Just A Little Faster
by xRynnX
Summary: Sequel to A Split Second. More races, more romance and more running over the neighbors mailbox.
1. Chapter 1

**(A/N) Welcome everyone to the sequel to _A Split Second_! This picks up a few weeks after _A Split Second_ ends so it's around the beginning of January here ^^.**

**I hope you all enjoy it!**

* * *

><p>Fran slammed his locker closed with a small sigh and took a small peak at the window behind him.<p>

From that short peak he saw that it was still snowing outside as it had been all day.

"Fran-chan!"

Fran winced at the sound of his name being shouted in an extremely high pitch. He turned his head to the right to see his two self proclaimed best friends walking (in one of their cases, running) towards him.

"Hello, Haru" Fran greeted when the short, brown haired girl attached herself to his waist, hugging him tightly. The green haired teen looked up to the other friend and gave a small sigh, "and hello to you too, Mochi."

The black haired male frowned and messed up Fran's already messy hair, "How many times must I tell you? My name isn't Mochi, it's Takashi Mochida."

"Mochi sounds cuter though" Haru said as she pulled herself away from Fran and beamed up at Takashi.

Takashi rolled his eyes and groaned. He hated it when his friends ganged up on him.

"Anyway" Takashi began, hoping to move away from the subject of his stupid nickname, "where were you all winter break, Fran?"

"Hibernating" answered Fran.

"For some reason I believe that" Haru said lowly and gave a soft sigh.

"For some reason…I believe that too" Takashi said, an eyebrow rose as he stared at Fran's blank face.

"Ask Spanner if you wish" Fran said with a shrug before he picked his book bag off the hallway floor and made his way down the stairs and towards the exits. He didn't have to turn around to know that Haru and Takashi were following him since he could here Haru's heavy, eccentric footsteps and Takashi scolding her to walk more quietly.

Fran walked through the parking lot, searching for his Accord. When he finally found it, he felt his heart warm at the sight of the snow chains Spanner had put on the tires that morning. He turned to Haru and Takashi, the two abruptly ceasing their arguing when the younger male turned to them.

"Wanna come over?" Fran asked simply but sincerely. He really needed to reconnect with his two friends since he hadn't seen them since school went into recess for winter break. He also needed a reason to stay away from the tracks today but Haru and Takashi didn't need to know that.

"Yes!" Haru squealed and quickly turned to Takashi, a serious look in her eyes, "I call shotgun!"

And the young girl was running to the other side of the car, pulling the door open and pouting when she realized it was locked. Takashi laughed and Fran sighed before he opened the door to the driver's side and unlocked all the other doors. Haru eagerly slid into the passenger's seat and Takashi slid into the back while Fran started the car and pulled his seatbelt on.

Once the Accord was on the road, Haru began to fidget because of the silence in the car and she shyly turned to Fran who was concentrating on the snowy road.

"Fran-chan? Can I turn on the radio?" Haru asked lowly, a small pout on her lips.

"Sure" Fran said, his monotone unwavering as he turned the corner. He bit the inside of his mouth when he saw just how much the snow was piling up, his inside clenching with fear and anxiousness to just safely get home with Haru and Takashi.

"Oh! I love this song!" Haru said happily as Mariah Carrey's _Till The End of Time_ started to play throughout the car.

Takashi simply grinned and folded his arms across his chest.

Fran bit his tongue as the car slid a bit.

_Finally,_ Fran thought as he pulled into the driveway of his home. His heart gave a small leap of joy at the thought that he had arrived safely with his friends. He looked over to Haru and Takashi who were now racing to the front door, trying to keep out of the snow. Fran inwardly smiled and let himself out of the car before he unlocked the door and allowed his friends into the warm home.

"I'll go make us some hot chocolate!" Haru said happily as she skipped off into the kitchen to do just that.

"Upstairs" Fran said and made his way up to his room. He opened the door and jumped onto his messy bed which was covered by warm blankets going in every direction.

"Man, you really were hibernating up here" Takashi says as he looks around the room. There were a few ramen bowls here and there and the trash bin was full of snacks and empty drinks.

"I wasn't kidding" Fran said into his pillows.

Takashi grinned and nudged Fran over so he could lay beside him. Fran moved over with fake reluctance and Takashi rolled his eyes before he covered both Fran and himself with the blankets. Fran gave a small groan of protest when Takashi wrapped his arms around his small body, pulling him into his chest which was well built thanks to Kendo.

Minutes later, Haru came in holding a tray full of warm hot chocolate and cookies. She gave a small gasp when she saw Takashi and Fran cuddling on the bed.

"Oi, you two, stop cuddling and come eat" she ordered softly, a small smile on her face as she set the tray down on Fran's kotatsu.

Fran struggled to get out of Takashi's arms despite the fact that he was extremely warm. Takashi finally let him go when his own stomach grumbled; the black haired male rolled off the bed and crawled towards the kotatsu, Fran following after him.

The three of them munched on the cookies and took slow sips of the steaming hot chocolate while enjoying each others company.

"You guys…are staying over tonight" Fran said while chewing on his cookie.

Haru and Takashi took one look outside and agreed with him.

Once they were all showered and ready for bed, Takashi and Fran moved the kotatsu to a corner of the room before spreading blankets on it.

"You guys really don't have to sleep on the floor" Haru whined as she watched from the bed how Takashi made a makeshift bed while Fran watched stood to the sides.

"We've been over this already, Haru" Takashi said while he fixed a corner of the blankets, "Ladies can't sleep on the floor of a mans bedroom."

"That's a stupid rule in my opinion" Fran said with a shrug.

"Of course" Takashi sighed and rolled his eyes.

Fran patted Takashi head in mock praise when the elder was done making the bed. He laid down on the side furthest from the bed and pulled the warm blankets over himself. Takashi slid in next to him when he was done tucking Haru in and turning the lights off.

They wished each other a good night and went into a comfortable silence. Fran could hear the soft breathing of his friends as they drifted off to sleep. He pulled his phone out from under his pillow when he was certain they were asleep.

Fran pressed a random button on his phone and he squinted when the light suddenly attacked his eyes. The blue light glowed on his face as Fran checked his missed calls.

Spanner.

Spanner.

Spanner.

Mammon.

Mammon.

Lussuria.

Chrome.

Ken.

Chikusa.

Mukuro.

Squalo.

Belphegor.

Belphegor.

Belphegor.

Belphegor.

Belphegor.

Belphegor.

Verde.

Belphegor.

Belphegor.

Spanner.

Lussuria.

Fran sighed and deleted all his missed calls before putting his phone back under his pillow and drifting off into a short sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

"Oi! Where the hell is your damn brat at, Spanner?"

Said blonde turned around to see Bel marching towards the garage where he was working on a car.

"Well…he should be at school" Spanner said as he swirled his lollipop around in his mouth.

"Don't students get winter break?" Bel asked, angrily shoving his hands in his pockets.

"That started the day after his birthday and ended just yesterday" Spanner said as he went back to working on Mukuro's car.

Bel clenched his teeth together angrily before he spoke again, "Then where the hell as he been the entire break?"

"Hibernating."

"Hibernating?"

"Yep. He just stays up in his room, sleeps all day and eats when he feels like it. He only leaves to use the bathroom."

"Your kid is weird."

"He's not mine."

Bel frowned and crossed his arms over his chest, "I wanna race him. I kept calling him yesterday but he wouldn't answer. Even when Squalo called he didn't answer and Squalo got so pissed that he broke his phone."

"He didn't answer my calls either but he never answers his phone when he's with Haru and Takashi" Spanner said with a shrug and grunted when he finally found the problem with Mukuro's car.

Bel's frown deepened and leaned against the wall of the garage while he watched Spanner work on the car. After some time of being watched Spanner closed the hood of the car and leaned against it before he turned to Bel.

"Look, he won't come to the tracks voluntarily right now" Spanner pulled the lollipop stick out of his mouth, "He gets out of school at 3."

Bel bit back his smile and Spanner went back to working on fixing the car while the blonde ran out of the garage.

"Belphegor wants to race Fran?" Shoichi asked as he walked out of one of the rooms in the garage.

"Yep" Spanner replied.

"He does know he won't win right?"

"He's hopeful."

"And confident."

"And prideful."

"And dumb."

"And…he's warmed up to Fran" Spanner said lowly, a frown appearing on his lips.

"This upsets you why?" Shoichi asked as he leaned against the side of the car.

"I have a bad feeling about this" Spanner said and went back to the car.

"You don't want to lose Fran anymore than you already have."

Spanner frowned and pulled out from under the hood of the car. He looked over to Shoichi who gave him a knowing smirk.

"First it was Haru and Takashi when he started high school. Then when she was older it was Uni. Then Kyoko and Kirino. I…I feel like I'm slowly loosing my best friend. It doesn't feel good."

"You make it look like he's your lover."

"Ew, don't put it like that."

Shoichi chuckled at that and shook his head, "Fran's given you a lot and as his life goes on he'll be giving the same things he gave to you to other people."

"He can't give his virginity to anyone else" Spanner rolled his eyes and threw a lollipop stick at the red head.

"I know but someday he'll sleep with someone else. He'll always love you but there will always be someone else he'll love in a different way."

"You're making it sound like I'm in love with him" Spanner frowned.

"Weren't you at one point?"

"Yeah when we were younger but still…I have Hayato now."

"The love you held for Fran is still there, it hasn't changed much, has it? You can't let him go yet, can you?"

Spanner sighed and slammed the hood of the car down before he sat on it. "I love Hayato, I really do. I want to give him everything. But…a part of me just won't go. I can't help it. I just can't stop loving my best friend in that way."

Shoichi went over to his friend and wrapped an arm around his shoulder, "So now you're stuck huh? You love Hayato but Fran still holds the bigger piece of your heart."

"That makes me feel bad…"

"Of course, 'cause you really just want Hayato don't you?"

"I want them both."

"…That's your problem right there."

Spanner groaned and threw his head back. Shoichi put his hands behind his head so he wouldn't hit the windshield.

"If it's Fran, I can have him right?"

"It all depends on his feelings for you."

"If it's Hayato, I could have him too, right?"

Shoichi looked over to the parking lot where a red Ferrari F430 was parking.

"Yeah."

~0~0~0~0~

"Mammon!"

Mammon turned around to see Bel running towards him, a small smile on his face. The purple haired male shoved his phone in his pocket and waited for Bel to reach him.

"What's up with you?"

"Come with me to pick up the brat."

"You mean my nephew."

"Yeah that one" Bel said with a small nod.

"Why do you look so happy?" Mammon asked, raising an eyebrow in question.

"I'll finally be getting my race!" Bel said happily.

"That is if you don't lose to my talented nephew" Mammon said, smirking a little when Bel's smile fell into a frown.

"You should support me more" Bel said with a huff, crossing his arms across his chest, "I'm your boyfriend, y'know."

"Bros before hoes" Mammon said with a shrug.

Bel frowned, "Fran isn't your 'bro' and I am most definitely _not_ a hoe."

Mammon smirked before he gave Bel a small peck to his lips.

"Will you come with me to pick the brat up?" Bel asked, wrapping his arms around Mammon's shoulders.

Mammon's hand slipped into his pocket, cutting off the call he was receiving before turning his phone off.

"Sure, let's go."

* * *

><p><strong>(AN) So, how many of you can guess what part of the plot is about?**


	3. Chapter 3

Takashi gave a small grunt as a familiar weight settled itself on his back.

"Hello, Fran" Takashi greeted with a sigh and continued to rearrange the books in his locker.

"My shoe is untied" Fran said simply.

"Right" Takashi mumbled.

The two went in to a comfortable silence in that position, Takashi squatting before his locker and Fran sitting on his back.

"Takashi."

"Hm?"

"I wanna eat empanada."

"We'll go get some after school."

"I can't find Haru."

"She wasn't in her classroom?"

"Nope."

"Get up, we're gonna go look for her."

"Fran! Mochi~!" a shout came from down the hallway and the two boys turned their heads to see Haru running towards them with her usual grin on her face.

"Looks like I don't have to move" Fran said and plopped back down on Takashi's back. Takashi gave a small grunt and looked up at Haru.

"Where were you?" he asked, giving Haru a serious look.

"I was talking to a friend" Haru said shyly, a small blush popping up on her cheeks.

"Friend?" Takashi asked, his tone and expression becoming serious.

"Oh…" Fran butted into the conversation with a small sound that sounded surprised yet monotone.

Coming towards them was Mammon and Belphegor, the two of them showing bright, in Bel's case scary, expressions.

"Hey, come with us" Bel ordered when he stopped in front of Fran who was still comfortably seated on Takashi's back.

"Aren't you supposed to offer me candy first?" Fran asked.

Bel scowled and opened his mouth to snap at the younger male when Takashi spoke, his voice low and pleading.

"Let me up."

Fran sighed and reluctantly stood up to allow Takashi to stand and stretch his back.

"I swear one of these days you're gonna give me Scoliosis" Takashi complained as he turned from side to side to crack his back.

"I'm sure you'll deserve it" Fran said with a shrug and received a glare from Takashi.

"Um…Fran, who are they?" Haru asked, pointing a finger to Bel, who was waiting impatiently for Fran to finish with his friends, and Mammon who was waiting patiently, looking a bit amused.

"Oh, this" Fran nodded his head towards Mammon, "is my uncle Mammon and the other guy is…who are you again?"

"Oi!" Bel snapped.

"Fran stop being rude" Takashi slapped the younger boy on the forehead. Fran flinched fakely and stuck his tongue out at Takashi.

"I'm Haru Miura!" Haru said happily and took Mammon's hand, shaking it lightly.

"Mammon and this is my boyfriend, Belphegor" Mammon introduced himself and the scowling Bel who was glaring daggers at Fran.

"I'm Takashi Mochida, it's a pleasure to meet Fran's uncle" Takashi said and bowed politely.

"I like him better; can't you exchange your nephews or something?" Bel asked Mammon.

"I like Verde better" Fran said with a shrug, he caught something interesting and inwardly frowned.

"I don't give a damn about who you like, brat" Bel growled.

"Then I don't care either. I'm here to stay" Fran said proudly.

Bel's scowl deepened while Fran remained his normal neutral self.

"So, why are you guys here?" Takashi asked, gesturing with his hands to the school, "Did you come to pick up Fran?"

"Oh!" Bel perked up at that and turned to Fran who blinked questioningly at him, "Race me."

"No" Fran rejected way too quickly for his own liking.

Bel noticed this and smirked, "Are you scared, kid?"

From the corner of their eyes, Haru and Takashi saw the way Fran stuck his hands into his pockets. It was a nervous reaction of the younger boys that took time to notice. While others would see it as a casual move to Takashi and Haru it meant that something was wrong with their Fran.

"I'm not, I just don't want to make you look bad in front of everyone again" Fran said.

Bel's smirk slipped off his face, his scowl returning, "Just race me, brat."

It was discreet but Takashi and Haru noticed the way Fran's eyes flashed over to the two of them before they went back to Bel. Takashi smiled softly and wrapped and arm around his younger friends shoulder.

"Come on, I wanna see you race" Takashi said in comforting tone.

"Me too!" Haru said, "I bet you look really cool!"

Fran sighed and hung his head in defeat. He wasn't in the mood for racing. He wasn't ready to race after his hibernation.

"Fine" Fran said and walked off.

"Wait!" Takashi said and grabbed his book bag before running off with Haru to catch up to Fran.

Fran glared at the text he received from Bel.

**From: Douchebag**

_See you at the tracks._

"Hey" Takashi said when he caught up to Fran, placing a hand on the younger's shoulder.

"Get in" Fran gestured to the Accord with a finger before he slipped into the driver's seat and started the car.

Haru and Takashi exchanged worried looks before they climbed into the car.


	4. Chapter 4

A few seconds after he heard his name being called, Spanner was met with an arm full of Fran as the younger one wrapped his arms around the blonde's back.

Spanner wrapped one arm around Fran's neck and the other around his back, his fingers playing with the ends of Fran's hair, "What's up?"

"The idiot wants to race me."

"…Oh. That's my fault; I told him where you were. Sorry."

"I just got out of hibernation, Spanner."

Spanner sighed and allowed himself to feel guilty for not thinking about his actions sooner. Only the Ayres family knew what hibernation truly meant. It was a time for Fran to mourn the death of his parents and little sister in the safety of his bedroom. It was a perfect time for him to do so since there was no school and Fran could hide under the covers without overheating his body.

"I'm sorry," Spanner apologized sincerely and held Fran closer.

Fran buried his face into Spanner's chest and sighed, "Takashi and Haru wanted to see me race."

Spanner raised his head from where it was resting on top of Fran's to see Takashi and Haru greeting everyone there. The two turned to look over at Spanner and smiled when they saw him, he smiled back before he gave his attention to Fran again.

"They're your friends and they support you so of course they'd want to see you race," Spanner said as he rubbed Fran's back.

"Do you think I'm ready?"

"Maybe you should talk to Mammon."

Fran frowned, glad that his face was covered by Spanner's chest, "What? Now that Mammon's here you won't comfort me anymore?"

Spanner swore he felt his heart sink at those words, "I'll always be here for you, Fran. Always. I just meant that maybe…maybe Mammon has something interesting to tell you."

Fran nodded and tightened his grip on Spanner's shirt.

"Oi! Where do you keep the extra bandages?" a voice came from being the two best friends.

Fran wriggled a bit in Spanner's arms, silently asking the elder to release him. Spanner let him go and Fran left muttering something about going to talk to Mammon.

The blonde turned around to see Hayato and Lambo, small cuts covering the black haired males face and arms as well as his legs, wounds that were seen through his torn pants.

Spanner smiled warmly at Hayato before he took his hand, "Come on, I'll show you."

~0~0~0~0~

"Talk to me."

Mammon blinked up before he realized that it probably wasn't seen by his nephew, "What?"

"Spanner said you have something interesting to tell me," Fran said as he sat down beside Mammon.

"Something interesting?"

Fran nodded.

"Um…oh! Did you know that Hazama was a street racer? He was one of the best," Mammon said, a small smile popping up on his lips.

"My father…was a street racer?"

"Yup! That's how he met Noel…well sorta."

"How'd they meet?"

"Well from what my parents have told me, Noel worked at a car wash with a friend of hers, Rachel was her name. Hazama and his friends passed by there one day he instantly felt some attraction towards Noel but so did one of Hazama's friends, Ragna. So Hazama being the good friend that he was tried to set up Noel with Ragna," Mammon shook his head here at the thought of Hazama being a sacrificial idiot before he continued.

"There was a huge race in the middle of July which everyone who knew about street racing would attend to. Only the best got to race in this and of course, your father was one of them. Noel attended the race because Hazama asked her to go so she could see Ragna race. The race began and drivers began to wipe out one by one. Hazama was one of the last contenders and was close to winning when some jerk face bumped into him and sent him flying towards the guard rails. Luckily your father is smart man and he ended up saving himself" Mammon paused to look over at Fran to see if the younger's expression had changed at all. He wasn't sure how to feel when he saw that Fran's expression remained neutral so he continued.

"In the end, Hazama won the race and Noel, relieved to see your father was okay, kissed him and told him her feelings after she beat up for being a 'huge, careless, idiot. The end," Mammon finished with a small sigh.

"Your father was a pretty cool man," Fran heard someone say from behind him, he turned his head to see Takashi smiling at him.

"Whatever happened to Ragna?" Haru asked from beside Takashi.

"Who knows," Mammon said with a shrug.

"Where's Bel?" Fran asked lowly.

Mammon raised an eyebrow, wondering why Fran's first question after hearing his parents love story was about Bel before he realized that this was Fran, "He's with Shoichi, he needed to have his car checked before the race."

Fran nodded and left the arena seats to go look for Spanner. He found the blonde in the garage talking to Hayato and…Lambo.

"Ew, why is he here?" Fran asked Spanner, gesturing with his head towards Lambo who was covered in bandages.

"Hey there, did you miss me?" Lambo asked Fran as he walked closer to the younger boy, a small flirtatious smile on his lips.

Spanner frowned and grabbed Fran's arm, pulling him away from Lambo. He casually wrapped an arm around Fran's shoulder.

"He's here because well…what happened again?" Spanner asked Hayato who was scolding the black haired male for being an idiot.

"I almost ran him over, he jumped out of the way but ended up getting fucked up so I bought him here since it was closer," Hayato said with a shrug.

"You should have let yourself get ran over," Fran said.

"Aww don't say that. If I'm gone then who else are you going to dream about at night?" Lambo asked.

"I'd rather dream about that blonde idiot." Fran mockingly shuddered. "Then again I'd rather not dream about any of you at all."

"Same goes for you, brat." said Bel from behind Fran as he walked into the garage. "The only dreams I'd ever have of you would involve knives and a shovel."

"Kinky," Fran looked over his shoulder to stare directly at Bel.

Spanner tightened his grip around Fran's shoulders, causing the younger to break his staring contest with Bel, which made no sense since he couldn't see if the stupid blonde was blinking anyway.

"Come on, we have race," Bel said and walked out of the garage.

"Right," Fran nodded and pulled out of Spanner's grip. He shoved his hands down Spanner's jumpsuit before he pulled them both out, one of them holding a set of keys and the other lollipop. He moved past Hayato and Lambo and climbed into Murci before he started the engine, honked to get everyone to move, and drove on to the tracks.

Fran turned on his communicator as he drove over to where Bel was waiting with his Aston Martin at the starting line.

"You ready, kiddo?" Bel's voice came through the system.

"Ugh, why do you keep talking to me?" Fran wrinkled his nose even through Bel couldn't see him. Though he could already see the scowl that would be forming on the blonde's face.

"Fran! Good luck!" came the voices of Haru and Takashi, the two of the eagerly expressing their wishes for their friend to win.

"Thanks," Fran said and revved his engine when Spanner came through.

"Are you both ready?"

A simultaneous 'yes' came from the two racers before Spanner began the count down.

"3."

…..

"2."

Fran heard Bel sigh from the other end and he gripped the steering wheel tightly.

"1."

Bel took off a second before Fran did; easily gaining the lead while Fran hung behind. The blonde growled as he realized just what Fran was doing and he slowed down in front of the green Murcielago, causing it to hit the back of the Aston Martin.

Fran cursed lowly as he steady himself and sped up. He wasn't intentionally allowing Bel to take the lead. There was something wrong with the Murcielago and it was sending the teen into state of panic. He pressed on the gas which wasn't functioning as well as it should be and tried to get passed Bel just to get this race over with.

"Dammit brat! What the hell are you doing?" Bel growled from the other end.

Fran noticed that the older male was slowing down beside him.

"Spanner," Fran called out.

Spanner didn't fail to notice the hint of panic in his friend's voice and responded quickly, "What's wrong?"

"There's something wrong with the gas, the breaks aren't working very well either," Fran answered as he tapped on the breaks a few times.

Spanner felt panic rise in him at the news that the breaks weren't working and he turned over to look at Shoichi, "Does the Murcielago have an emergency break?"

"It should," Shoichi responded with a nod.

"The emergency breaks, Fran," Spanner said into his headset as he watched the green Murcielago from the arena. It suddenly jerked to a stop, the red Aston Martin stopping beside it. He watched as Fran got out of the car and kicked one of the tires. He heard Bel honk in a way of telling Fran to get in and the teen complied and climbed into the car.

Spanner quickly made his way onto the tracks when the Aston Martin stopped near the area everyone was sitting. He patiently waited for Fran to step out before he pulled the younger into a warm embrace which Fran returned.

"You want to send me into an early grave, don't you?" Spanner muttered into Fran's hair.

"Never. If you die then who's gonna wash my underwear?" Fran replied as he tightened his arms around Spanner when he felt two more bodies join the hug.

"Haru's so glad your okay!" the young girl cried into Fran's shoulder.

"I'm glad your okay too," Takashi chuckled into Fran's other shoulder.

"Sorry, I couldn't show you guys my super awesome racing skills," Fran apologized; hoping his honesty slipped passed his monotone.

"What 'super awesome racing skills'?" Bel asked from the side which caused him to receive a kick from Mammon.

The group broke their hug and Fran turned to Bel, a hint of seriousness slipping past the green eyes, "We'll continue this later."

"Yeah…we will."


	5. Chapter 5

Fran gave a small yawn as he lifted his head from his desk. He blinked his eyes a few time to get rid of the sleep in them before he stood up and left the classroom to go home.

Since Takashi and Haru were absent, Takashi was at a Kendo training camp for the week and Haru had a doctors appointment, Fran left the building alone and climbed into Evelyn before he started the car and drove off to the tracks.

As soon as he arrived he was glomped by Ken who eagerly began to tell him about how Chikusa had just downloaded some awesome videogame on his computer.

Fran listened with little interest, trying to keep himself awake as Ken went on and on about the game before Chikusa pulled him away, flashing an apologetic look towards Fran.

Fran sighed and leaned back in his arena seat. He could feel a weeks worth of sleepless nights hitting him harshly.

"Hey, Frog," Bel greeted as he took a seat beside Fran.

"Hmm," Fran groaned and shifted his eyes so he was staring at his lap.

"Well aren't you miserable today."

"I'll be miserable for as long as you're in my life."

"Che," Bel scowled and turned his head away from the green haired teen, deciding to watch Chikusa and Chrome race instead.

Suddenly there was a light pressure on Bel's shoulder and the blonde turned his head to see that Fran was resting his head on his shoulders, eyes closed and breathing lightly.

Bel swallowed nervously and placed a hand over the teen's forehead to check for a fever. Once he confirmed that Fran was indeed not sick and only sleeping, the blonde relaxed and looked around for Spanner.

He finally saw Spanner when the elder blonde came from the garage and waved to get his attention. Spanner took one look at them and was sprinting off in their direction.

"Is he okay?" Spanner asked when he reached them. He took Fran from Bel's arms and cradled the teen on his lap.

"He looks paler than usual but his temperature is normal," Bel answered with a shrug.

"He hasn't been getting enough sleep," Spanner muttered mostly to himself as he held Fran tighter and brushed the boy's bangs from his face.

"Is it always like this?" Bel asked. "His insomnia, I mean."

"It only gets like this if something is troubling him, normally he gets 3 to 5 hours of sleep though" Spanner replied.

Bel nodded and flashed a look at the sleeping teen before he shifted his gaze to the tracks.

"I'll take him home now," Spanner said to no one in particular. He wasn't really sure himself as to why he was trying to assure Bel that Fran would be okay.

The young blonde nodded and watched as Spanner carried Fran bridle style to the Accord and drove off.

Bel sighed five minutes later and stood to leave. He was stopped by Levi before he could go anywhere.

"Where are you going?" asked the spiky haired male.

"Library," Bel answered before he stepped past Levi and headed towards his car.

~0~0~0~0~

"Hey, can I ask you for a favor?"

"Sure."

"Can Fran stay with you for a few days?"

"Of course."


	6. Chapter 6

Fran awoke to the sounds of someone moving around in his room. He blinked his eyes open and saw Spanner throwing stuff in a small duffle bag. He quickly sprang out of bed, feeling slightly dizzy, before Spanner could put another article of clothing in the bag.

"What are you doing?" Fran asked, his eyes staring questioningly at his friend.

"You're going to stay with Verde for a few days," Spanner replied, pulling his arm away from Fran's grasp and throwing more clothes in the bag.

"What? Why?

"Something's wrong and you're not telling me about it. I think Verde will help with whatever it is since it's most likely about your parents, no?"

"Yeah but…I'm fine when I'm with you."

"I can't do anything for you Fran."

Fran rubbed his arm, looked down, and bit his bottom lip, "Do you not want me anymore, Spanner?"

In a split second Fran felt his head being pulled up by a strong hand and rough lips pressing against his own. He allowed Spanner to kiss him without kissing back until the elder pulled away and wrapped an arm around his waist, pulling him close.

"I want you, Fran," Spanner whispered in the teen's ear. "You're the person I cherish the most and I always want you by my side…but right now, you need Verde to help you, okay?"

Fran nodded and wrapped his arms around Spanner's neck, "I'll go with Verde for a few days but you better make me some garlic bread when I come back."

Spanner chuckled and buried his face into his friend's neck.

"I'll make you all the garlic bread you want as long as you always come back to me."

~0~0~0~0~

"Fran! Come in, come in" Verde greeted his nephew at the door, ushering him inside.

"Um…hey" Fran greeted as he stepped inside the cozy apartment. The first thing he noticed was the nice interior design of the apartment, the leather couch, plasma screen T.V, polished wooden floors and coffee table and lastly the paintings on the walls. "Being a cop must pay a lot, huh?"

Verde chuckled as he sat on the leather couch, "Of course, come sit."

Fran let his bag plop down on the floor near the exit before he awkwardly took a seat beside Verde.

"So Spanner tells me you've been having trouble sleeping?" Verde began as he stood and went to the neatly decorated kitchen and came back with orange juice for Fran and coffee for himself.

"Yeah," Fran nodded his thanks as he took the orange juice and took a sip. "How'd you know I like orange juice?"

"Hazama used to chug the stuff like it was the best drink in the world, I just supposed you might like it as well," Verde said with a shrug as he took a sip of his own drink.

"My dad used to like orange juice," Fran said to himself before he took another sip of the orange juice.

"You're very much like him," Verde said, "but you are also a lot like your mother."

"They're my parents after all."

"How many hours have you gotten of sleep this week?"

"Half an hour to forty-five minutes."

For the first time in a while Fran saw his uncle frown deeply at his answer.

"Has something been troubling you?"

Fran nodded.

"Care to explain?"

Fran placed his cup down on the coffee table beside Verde's before he leaned back on leather couch, "Mammon told me about how my parents met. About how my dad used to be a racer."

Verde sighed and rubbed his temples, "That child is always…urgh. Anyway, how has this affected your sleeping habits?"

"It made me wonder what it would have been like if my parents themselves told me about how they met. What they would think if they saw me now…"

"You're still in the depression stage of grieving, aren't you?"

Fran swallowed dryly before he nodded.

"No emotions, not sleeping well always thinking about the 'what if's," Verde muttered to himself before he went back to Fran, "What you wish for is impossible and I'm not sure if letting you know more about your parents will satisfy you or trouble you more." Verde sighed and shook his head, "I'm a cop not a therapist, but I'll do my best to help you overcome this depression of yours."

"I think…knowing more about them will help a bit" Fran muttered.

"Yes but it will also make you wonder about them," Verde said. "You'll always wonder as you go through your life. How it would be like if they saw you graduate, get married, have kids. How it would be like to have Rin in your life. This will always be your problem; the way to solve it is what we have to figure out. Occupy your mind with other things? Find ways to not make you worry over it so much? We'll find a way."

"Right," Fran sighed.

"Are you hungry," Verde asked his nephew, giving the boy an unseen concerned look.

"Yeah," Fran nodded.

Verde smiled softly at the young boy and gently ruffled his hair before leaving the living room and heading to the kitchen.

Fran was left sitting on the couch, staring with wide eyes at his lap. He moved around and laid side ways on the couch and moved his hands up to rest on his head.

"Papa…"


	7. Chapter 7

"You know, Fran's insomnia isn't really normal," Bel said to Mammon as he sat on the hood of his car, a book on his lap.

"How so?" Mammon asked his boyfriend as he leaned against the Aston Martin.

"Well, it says here that insomnia can affect a person's motor coordination," Bel explained. "Fran can drive really well and he doesn't stumble around either when he walks."

"Are you finally admitting that my nephew is a better racer than you?" Mammon asked with a smirk.

"What? No!" Bel shouted and scowled at his boyfriend before going back to the book.

"What are you researching insomnia for anyway?"

"Um…I have a report on it."

"For what class?"

"Literature."

"You don't take that class."

Bel groaned and pouted at his defeat. Mammon smirked and looked over to Bel.

"You're concerned about Fran's sleeping," Mammon said with a smug tone.

"We have a rematch soon and I don't want him falling asleep at the wheel. He needs to be at his best," Bel said and nodded as if he were trying to reassure himself of his answer.

Mammon sighed and shook his head at his boyfriend's stubbornness, "Why won't you just admit that you care for him?"

"Why does it sound like you're trying to get me to fall in love with him or something?" Bel asked and gave Mammon a questioning look.

Mammon bit his lip and hung his head before whispering only low enough for himself to hear.

"What was that?" Bel asked.

Mammon shook his head and pushed off the car before he headed towards where Levi and Lussuria were playing cards.

Bel frowned and was ready to go back to his book when he saw Spanner walk by his car. He quickly slid off the hood and followed after the elder blonde, stopping when Spanner entered the garage.

"Hey, where's Fran?" Bel asked casually.

"He's with Verde, he'll be there for a few days, and depending on the results you'll be having your rematch soon," Spanner answered as he popped the hood of Fran's car open.

"He's with Verde?"

"Yep. I'm hoping being around someone who's related to him by blood will help him sleep better."

"He's around Mammon a lot though and that didn't seem to help."

"Verde…looks like Hazama."

"Oh."

Spanner bit his lip and nodded as he checked the inside of the car for anything that may be wrong with it.

"All Mammon has is his mother's marks, Verde has the green hair which somewhat resembles Hazama's. Fran…from what I remember is a perfect blend of Hazama and Noel. His hair is darker than Hazama's which is probably the result of Noel's blonde hair mixing in there. Hazama's eyes were yellow too while Noel's were a light green and that most likely created Fran's shade. Fran is…Fran is perfect," Spanner muttered to mostly himself but to Belphegor as well.

"You sound like you're…um…are you?" Bel asked awkwardly.

Spanner nodded.

"But Hayato…"

"It's complicated. Fran is my best friend and I've loved him since we were kids but with Hayato it was more of a love at first sight thing. Though my feelings for Fran are getting in the way of being able to love Hayato the way I want to."

"That does sound complicated."

"How do you feel about Fran?"

Bel's eyes widened behind his bangs, taken aback by the question.

"I don't like him, "Bel said surely. "He gets on my nerves and most of the time I just wish I had never met him. I do admit he's a great racer and not being able to beat him pisses me off. I am, however, not a cruel person so I will admit that his depression concerns me. Most of this concern stems from how Mammon would feel if something happened to the kid though."

"You really love Mammon, huh?" Spanner said with a slight smile.

"Of course, I live for that guy," Bel said proudly.

Spanner chuckled and shut the hood of the Murcielago, "Good, hold strong to that love, okay?"

Bel smiled and nodded.


	8. Chapter 8

After spending three days at Verde's place, Fran was ready to go home.

But he had more important matter's to tend to first. This explained why he was making his way to the tracks along with Verde on a cold winter night.

The elder green haired male parked in a spot at the arena before he and the younger male climbed out of the car and made their way down to the racing tracks.

At the sight of a green head, Spanner dropped his wrench and ran towards the teen, pulling him into his arms and holding him tightly.

"God, I missed you," Spanner whispered huskily into Fran's neck while the teen wrapped his arms around Spanner. "I don't want you leaving me again so you better be feeling better."

"I'm fine," Fran said reassuringly as he patted Spanner's back.

"Good," Spanner smiled and pulled away only to be pushed away by a red head who grabbed Fran's shoulders tightly.

"Never leave again!" Shoichi shouted loudly. "This man held me hostage and my boyfriend was not happy about it!"

"I'm sure you're boyfriend gave you a nice punishment, right, Chi?" Spanner chuckled as he patted the blushing red heads butt.

"You walk too fast for an old man to catch up, Fran," Verde said as he approached the teen.

"You're only twenty-seven," Fran said with a roll of his eyes.

"I'm almost twenty-eight," Verde said with a small frown.

"Go get ready" Spanner said to Fran, giving the youngest a small push towards the direction the Murcielago was. Once Fran was far enough, Spanner turned to Verde, "How was it?"

"I made him keep a sleep diary and he's been sleeping between 5 and 6 hours every day. We took 15 minute naps during my lunch breaks and we worked on relieving his muscles from any stress before going to sleep" Verde said as walked over to the seats and plopped down on one.

"Did you tell him anything about his family?" Spanner asked as he sat down a few seats away from Verde, Shoichi following and sitting down next to the blonde.

"No, it turned out that he just needed to be distracted from thinking about his parents too much, sure they'll always be in his heart but it's a bit troublesome if they're always on his mind. We'll have to be careful though because any small thing can bring back his low sleeping hours" Verde said and rubbed his temples.

Spanner nodded and gave Verde a smile of thanks before he pulled his headset on to communicate with Fran.

~0~0~0~0~

"Is that idiot blonde still not here?" Fran asked Spanner from inside the car.

"Oi! Who are you calling an idiot you stupid brat?" Bel snapped at the teen as he pulled up beside the Murcielago on the tracks.

"Ugh, that voice. I wanna go deaf. Spanner, is there any way I can make this wish come true at," Fran stopped to check the time on the radio before speaking again, "ten forty-eight pm?"

"Your face makes me wanna go blind" Bel growled.

"Aren't your bangs already doing that for you?" Fran questioned innocently as he revved his engine a few times to check if it was okay.

"I can see perfectly fine with my bangs in my face, thank you very much" Bel grumbled irritatedly though he was a bit glad to see that the kid was okay again.

"You sure? I know a great hair stylist that can help you with that mop on your head" Fran leaned back in his seat as he received a message from Spanner saying that it'll be a while until they get the go.

"My mop is better than whatever the fuck you have on your head, brat" Bel growled.

"It's called hair, dummy" Fran sighed.

Bel was silent for a few seconds which made Fran wonder if they elder had given up before his voice came through the communicator once again, "Wanna make a bet, brat?"

"Sure."

"Winner brings the loser wherever they want" Bel explained. "Deal?"

"Deal. I am so taking you to the hair salon when I win."

"In your dreams, kid."

"Um…you guys ready?" Shoichi's voice filtered through the communicators.

"Yeah," Bel and Fran answered simultaneously.

"Right, ready? Set. Go!"

Bel choked back a gasp at the speed that Fran went passed him. He felt his heart speed up a bit in fear that the brat may crash due to his speed but calmed his thoughts and pressed down harder on the gas pedal.

Fran swiftly went around a corner and continued to speed straight to complete his first lap. He checked in his rearview mirror to see where Bel was and mentally smiled when he saw that Bel was right behind him.

When they completed their 3rd lap and went into their last one, Bel growled at the sight of Fran being ahead of him and slammed his foot down on the gas pedal, speeding forward and coming next to Fran. The younger was still a bit ahead and Bel let out an agitated sigh, his knuckles going white from gripping the steering wheel too tightly.

Fran cleanly passed the finish line first while Bel finished milliseconds afterwards.


	9. Chapter 9

"So, care to explain what happened to my car?" Fran asked Spanner as he stepped out of the Murcielago and tossed his keys to elder blonde.

"Um well…" Spanner started off nervously, "when Hayato arrived here that day I was working on Murci but then Hayato came and Lambo was all messed up so I left Murci with Shoichi to help Hayato with Lambo but that kid was being annoying and he ran away from us. He ended up distracting Shoichi in the garage and Shoichi accidentally moved something in there which ended up affecting the gas and break pedals. Sorry."

"It's fine" Fran said and patted his friends back before he looked around for the other blonde. He spotted Bel holding Mammon tightly against a wall across the tracks. Fran shrugged and went over to Verde who smiled at him.

"You did well," Verde said proudly.

Fran nodded and took Verde's hand. He placed the larger hand on top of his head and moved his own hand above it, making Verde's hand rub his head.

"What are you doing?" Verde asked as he fixed Fran's hair.

"My dad used to ruffle my hair when I won a Go-Kart race…when you ruffled my hair back at your house it felt nice," Fran muttered so quietly that Verde almost didn't hear him.

Verde smiled affectionately at the boy before pulling him into a hug and ruffling his hair lightly, "You did really well, Fran."

Fran wrapped his arms around Verde's waist, pulling himself closer to his Uncle and taking in his scent that was nearly identical to his fathers.

"Please remember that I am not your father," Verde pleaded, "I am your Uncle. I will, however, take good care of you like I'm sure your father did."

"So um…since you're his Uncle and all, will you be taking custody of him?" Spanner asked, suddenly appearing beside the hugging family members.

Verde chuckled and gently pulled Fran away from him, passing the teen into Spanner's arms, "He's Luche's. Or is he yours now?"

"Mom passed custody over him onto me," Spanner said as he wrapped his arms around Fran's chest, holding the boy closely.

"She did well, he's happy with you," Verde said and ruffled both Spanner and Fran's hair. "I should go now; Reborn won't stop calling me so I probably have to be at the station. I'll see you later, Fran."

Fran nodded and both he and Spanner waved goodbye to Verde as he left.

"Is Bel still making out with Mammon over there?" Fran asked Spanner, tilting his head up to look at Spanner.

"Yep," Spanner sighed and leaned his head down so his forehead rested on Fran's.

"Oi!" Spanner jumped and Fran turned his head at the sound of Mammon's voice, the purple haired male marching towards them.

"Yes?" Spanner asked when Mammon stopped in front of them.

"Why'd you give Fran to Verde?" Mammon asked with a pout, "I could have taken care of his sleeping problem too."

"Well…Verde is more trustworthy and I didn't want Bel hating Fran even more," Spanner explained.

Mammon's eyebrow furrowed behind his hood, "Why would Bel hate Fran?"

"If Fran is with you then Bel doesn't get laid" Spanner explained simply, giving a small shrug.

"He just needs to understand that Fran is important to me too" Mammon grumbled as he sat down.

"Yeah, he's being a bit of a jealous child," Spanner said before he let go of Fran shooed the young boy away, "To Bel, Fran is an intruder who is coming into his territory uninvited. Like a newborn who grabs all of the mother's attention."

"That last one is pretty weird," Mammon said and scrunched his nose, "But it makes sense."

Spanner bit his lip, almost regretting the words he was about to say, "So when siblings are fighting the best thing to do is to try to get them to talk about their problems and bring them closer, yes?"

"I agree," Mammon said and nodded, "What do you suggest we do?"

"Let them talk it out and get closer on their own? There's no way I'm helping in that. Fran would destroy me and Bel would run me over."

Mammon groaned and pressed his face into his hands, "Letting them do things on their own is easier but it may take some time."

"It will take time but it'll be worth it to see our boys getting along in the end, right?"

"Why are you making it sound like they're our sons?"

"Well…I take care of Fran and you take care of Bel, yes?"

"Yes."

"Well there you go."

"Let's just handcuff them together and hope that they don't kill each other."

Spanner frowned at the thought of Bel being so close to his Fran and shook his head, "No way."

"You're unbelievable," Mammon groaned and rubbed his face with a palm.

"Am I that obvious?" Spanner asked nervously.

"You're too obvious" Mammon said honestly. "I'm surprised he hasn't noticed it yet."

"Oh gosh, he'd probably hate me," Spanner groaned into his hands.

"I don't think he's capable of hating," Mammon said, "Anyway, didn't you two have sex?"

"Yeah but it was mostly because Fran wanted to get losing his virginity over with and mom always told him that one must only be intimate with someone they truly love and trust," Spanner explained.

"Wow, did he just ask you?"

"Yeah, he doesn't beat around the bush."

"I've noticed."

Spanner and Mammon both looked over to where Bel and Fran were leaning against a wall at the far side of the tracks, Fran sitting and crouching next to him.

"What do you think they're talking about?" the two asked in unison.

~0~0~0~0~

"What do you think they're talking about?" Fran asked, glancing over at Mammon and Spanner.

"Probably about us," Bel answered before he let himself plop down beside Fran, pulling his knees to his chest and wrapping an arm around them.

"What makes you think that?" Fran asked Bel, scooting to the right to put more space between himself and Bel.

"We're feuding and they're worried," Bel said and shrugged, giving the younger a glare when he saw just how much space Fran had put between them. "I know we don't like each other but did you really have to put an entire three feet between us?"

"Being near you makes me sick," Fran answered.

"Well I don't like being so close to you either but we can't exactly talk like this," Bel said as he scooted closer to Fran. He grabbed a handful of Fran's hoodie to prevent the younger from moving further away, letting go when Fran promised to not move.

"Do you think they're going to do anything about this?" Fran asked, gesturing to the arm length space between himself and the blonde.

"I hope not, you're not exactly a person I want to get close to," Bel said and scrunched his nose.

"Why not?" Fran asked innocently, pulling one leg up to his chest and wrapping an arm around it before he rested his chin on top of his knee.

"I don't like you, from the moment I saw you I wanted to take you down," Bel mumbled, resting his cheek on his knee and facing Fran.

"I didn't like you either when I first saw you and I made that clear," Fran said and sighed, "But do we really have to remain like this?"

"Are you expressing interest in becoming friends, brat?"

"No, I'm just trying to end this quickly 'cause I'm running out of ways to insult you."

Bel scowled and reached over to lightly slap Fran's thigh, the younger sticking his tongue out at him afterwards.

"So, do we agree to remain like this?" Fran asked.

"I don't know, I want nothing to do with you, honestly," Bel mumbled tiredly.

"Okay, after we complete the bet we'll separate," Fran said with a nod.

"Sounds good," Bel mumbled, his eyes closing behind his bangs.

The two sat in silence for a while before Fran heard soft snores coming from the blonde. He looked at Bel curiously, slightly wondering what Bel's face looked like without his bangs covering his face.

Fran decided he didn't care and stood up before walking away, leaving the blonde sleeping against the wall.


	10. Chapter 10

"Is this really where you wanted to bring me?" Bel asked as he plopped down beside Fran on the snow covered grass.

"You make stupid bets," Fran said as he laid in the snow.

"I couldn't think of anything else at the moment," Bel grumbled. "Don't lay down, you'll get sick."

"I have a coat so I'll be fine. Why are you worrying so much anyway?"

"If you get sick then Mammon will fuss over you and I like having Mammon all to myself."

"Well aren't you selfish."

"Mammon's mine."

"We share the same blood so Mammon's closer to me than he ever will be to you."

Bel pouted as he realized he lost that argument and he hugged his knees to his chest.

"Why do you like this spot so much?" Bel asked after a while of silence.

"It helps me think."

"You're like Winnie the Pooh with his thinking log."

"There's meaning behind this spot though," Fran said as he sat up. "This is the spot where I met Spanner. I crashed my first Go-Kart here too. My parents and I used to have picnics on this spot too. My dad proposed to my mom here. I came here when I found out about my parents and sister…there's deep meaning behind this spot."

"Sorry I asked," Bel mumbled.

"It's fine," Fran said before he went back to laying in the snow.

After another few minutes of silence, Fran spoke up again.

"Do you have any siblings?"

"Siblings? Yeah, I have an older twin brother."

"Oh gosh, there are two of you?"

"No, there's only one Belphegor."

"Is he like you?"

"Nope, I'm better."

"Sure ya are."

"Stop being sarcastic, brat."

"Why are we doing this?"

Bel raised an eyebrow behind his bangs, "What do you mean?"

"Yesterday we agreed to separate but today we're getting to know each other," Fran explained.

"Well…because it'd be boring to just sit here," Bel said, shoving his gloved hands into the snow.

"I don't mind just sitting here," Fran said.

"Okay, shut up then."

And Fran did.


	11. Chapter 11

Verde toed his shoes off as he closed the door to his apartment. He neatly placed them to the side and walked into his living room, raising an eyebrow as soon as he walked in.

"Why are you rolling around on my floor, child?" Verde asked as he stepped over his nephew and sat down on his couch.

"I got bored waiting for you to come home," Fran answered, standing up from the floor and plopping himself down beside Verde.

"I do have a T.V and game systems you know? There are also a few books around here," Verde said while he put an arm around Fran's shoulders.

"There's nothing good on T.V and your games are too difficult. I don't really like reading either," Fran said.

Verde sighed and shook his head, pushing his glasses up he asked, "Why are you here?"

"I can't come visit my uncle?"

"You can, I was just wondering why the sudden visit."

"Do you get along well with Reborn?"

"I do. We had a rough start at first but after working together for so long we got a long much better," Verde answered before pulling Fran closer, "Is there something wrong? Are you having trouble with someone?"

"I have the strangest urge to stick a pencil up Bel's nose," Fran answered seriously.

"I don't think you two will ever get along," Verde said with a sigh, rubbing the area between his eyes.

"I don't think we will either but Mammon keeps insisting that we have to get along," Fran said, slumping down in his seat.

"Mammon has high hopes for everyone," Verde said with a quick roll of his eyes.

"I don't understand why I have to get along with him," Fran said and sighed before sitting up.

"You don't," Verde said, "it would be easier to work with him if you did though. You must keep in mind that you two work together and are a part of the Varia-Kokuyo alliance. Avoiding each other will be difficult especially since he sees you as a challenge and will occasionally challenge you to a race. So you're both idiots if you both think you can avoid each other."

"I thought you were on my side," Fran sighed and slouched on the couch.

"I'm not telling you that you should go be his best friend. I'm just saying that staying away from him will be impossible unless you quit the team which I'm sure you wouldn't want to do," Verde explained as he patted Fran's shoulder.

Fran nibbled on his lip and looked up to Verde, "I'll quit then. If I quit I can focus more on my studies, spend more time with Haru and Mochi, and just be lazy again."

"So you're willing to give up something you love just so you never have to see Belphegor again?" Verde asked, raising an eyebrow at his nephew.

"Yep," Fran said, pulling his phone and dialing a number. "Hey, I'm quitting," Fran said once the person on the other end picked up.

Verde heard some spluttering and rushed questions being asked before Fran pressed the 'end' button and slid his phone back into his pocket.

"I…," Verde sighed and shook his head, "would you like some dinner?"

"Sure, what are you making?" Fran asked.

Verde sighed, still shocked at his nephew's actions, he picked his keys up and stood from the couch, "How about we go out?"

Fran nodded and stood as well, "Sounds good."


	12. Chapter 12

"I don't know what you're thinking," Spanner said as he entered the kitchen, "but I know it's something stupid."

Fran stirred the noodles in the pot a bit before he put the spoon down and turned to face Spanner, "I'm thinking about geometric sequences. Is that stupid?"

Spanner sighed and plopped down on a stool at the island, "Fran, why'd you quit?"

"I didn't want to race anymore," Fran said with a shrug as he scooped noodles into his bowl and sat down beside Spanner with his noodles.

"Liar," Spanner grumbled, "you love to race."

"Yes but racing also makes it difficult for me to do my school work and hang out with my friends," Fran said.

"You're grades haven't dropped at all since you joined and you spend time with Haru and Takashi at school," Spanner said, taking Fran's fork and shoving some noodles into his own mouth, "besides, it's not like racing is taking up your life. You go when you want and you leave when you want."

Fran sighed and put his fork down, "I refuse to get along with Belphegor, okay?"

"So it's about him?" Spanner thought out loud and sighed.

"It's impossible for us to be on the same team when all we want to do is rip each other's organs out," Fran grumbled as he shoved more noodles into his mouth.

"That's…" Spanner bit his lip as he thought about the proper word, "…not good."

"I know," Fran said, "so it's just best if we stay away from each other."

"You two need to get along though," Spanner said strongly, causing Fran to look up at him. "I mean…I won't just let you quit doing something you love because of Bel. So even if you're on the same team, you don't have to talk to each other."

"If I'm in the same area as him, I feel like talking to him," Fran murmured.

"I'll keep you occupied then," Spanner said and patted Fran's head, "you can help me fix the cars or something."

Fran sighed as he poked at his remaining noodles, gathering them all up on his fork before feeding them to Spanner and putting his bowl in the sink, "We're out of milk. I'll go get some."

Spanner nodded as he chewed and watched as Fran left.

As expected, seconds later he heard the sound of something being run over and Gamma screaming.


	13. Chapter 13

Takashi, Haru, and Fran sat in the cafeteria at school, the three of them eating their lunches and talking at the same time.

Haru and Takashi did most of the talking while Fran just threw his opinion in every once in a while and continued to eat. His mind was occupied with other things such as whether or not he would go back to racing and avoid Bel as best as he can.

"Fran, are you listening?" Haru's voice cut into his thoughts.

Fran looked up from the table to look at Haru who was staring at him with concern in her brown eyes, Takashi mirroring her look.

Fran licked his lips and nodded, "Sorry, I was thinking about something."

"About what?" Takashi asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I quit racing," Fran muttered and looked back down to the table.

Haru and Takashi both frowned, "Why?"

"I got tired of Bel," Fran said with a shrug as he drew a moustache on Bob the Builder's face. He needed to have a long talk with Spanner about these lunchboxes.

"That's not a big enough reason for you to quit," Takashi said, "just ignore the guy and continue doing what you love to do. Or do I have to go and deal with this guy the same way I dealt with the people bothering Haru about her costume making?"

"You're gonna pour milk in Bel's underwear?" Fran asked, looking up to give Takashi a small look.

"If that's what it takes," Takashi shrugged and took a bite of his cookie.

"But Fran," Haru whined, "aren't you messing with Bel too?"

"Haru, you're supposed to be on our side," Takashi said with a small pout.

"I am!" Haru bounced in her seat angrily. "It's just that Fran really can't complain about Bel messing with him if he's doing the same thing. That's just being childish."

Fran groaned and laid his head down on the table, face first. He shoved his hands into his hair and tugged as he began to mutter randomly.

"She's right. Dammit," Fran grumbled.

"Haru is always right!" Haru said proudly, a finger pointing up in the air.

"You weren't right about who would win Homecoming Queen this year," Takashi said.

"Or last year," Fran threw in.

"Or the year before that," both Fran and Takashi said simultaneously.

"Okay fine!" Haru shouted with a pout.

"So…" Fran muttered, "I should probably go ask Mukuro to take me back."

"Yep, bring flowers and chocolate too," Takashi said with a low chuckle, dodging the grape Fran threw at him.


	14. Chapter 14

Fran, Takashi, and Haru all left the Accord after Fran had properly parked at the parking lot in the arena. The three of them walked down to the tracks where Fran could already see that everyone present had their eyes on the three of them, mainly Fran.

"Little One!" Mukuro cheered, running up to Fran the second Fran was on the tracks and embracing him. "Are you returning to me?"

"May I?" Fran asked politely, looking at Mukuro's eyes.

"Of course!" Mukuro squealed delightedly and hugged Fran tightly.

"It's nice to have you back," Chrome said, giving Fran a sweet smile.

"Yup! I missed you!" Ken said happily, his whole body vibrating from being so excited.

"He hasn't even been gone a week," Bel sighed and rolled his eyes behind his bangs.

"Oi!" Takashi shouted, walking towards Bel. "I suggest you leave our Fran alone."

"Or what?" Bel questioned, a grin forming on his lips.

"Or you'll have to deal with me," Takashi growled.

When Takashi felt Bel's fist on his chest he almost launched at him but something sharp poked his chest, stopping him. He lifted his hand and felt the keys that the elder held in his hands.

"If you win, I leave your precious kid alone," Bel said, "If you lose, you shut up and mind your own business."

"T-Takashi doesn't know how to race though," Haru stuttered, stepping forward a bit.

Fran rushed passed Haru and went straight towards Takashi, putting a hand on his shoulder and pulling him away from Bel.

"Look, this is between that idiot and me, don't interfere," Fran said, trying to sound angry through his monotone.

"Shut up," Takashi said lowly, giving Fran a strong look, "just tell me what I need to know."

Fran bit his lip and nodded, "First off, those keys are mine, if you fuck my car up I have every right to shove a wrench where it doesn't belong. All you need to do is press on the gas, be ready to hit the brakes when necessary, and go around the curves as neatly as you can."

Takashi nodded and patted Fran's head, giving the boy a reassuring smile before he headed towards the Murcielago, "I'll be fine."

"Liar," Fran grumbled and rubbed his face.

"Will he be okay?" Haru asked, wrapping her arms around one of Fran's.

"I hope so," Fran said, only to reassure Haru.

"Yo, Frog!" Bel called out to Fran, "if anything happens to your friend it's your fault!"

"I swear if you do anything you're going to regret leaving your mother's womb," Fran growled lowly to himself.

"Fran," Spanner said softly.

Fran turned around to see Spanner beckoning him to come over; Fran nodded and pulled Haru towards the seating area, taking a seat in the first row. Spanner handed Fran a pair of headset for him to communicate with Takashi and began to set up the devices.

"Any words of encouragement, Fran?" Takashi asked playfully.

"No matter what, I'll always love you, okay?" Fran said, surprising everyone present at the arena.

A chuckle was heard from Takashi, "Yeah, love you too."

Impatient revving came from Bel's car along with a few curses from the blonde.

"Go," Spanner said, not bothering to properly do the Ready Set.

The two cars quickly left, Takashi a large amount behind Bel after a few seconds. As the two approached the first corner, Takashi began to swerve a bit, sending a wave of panic through Fran. When Takashi made it around the corner, Bel was already heading towards the finish line.

Fran clenched his teeth as Bel crossed the line, going another lap to taunt Takashi who finished a few seconds afterwards.

Both Takashi and Bel left the cars and Fran left the seating area to head towards the two of them. As the two of them began to approach each other, Fran slid in between them, facing Bel.

"It's over, Takashi," Fran said, looking over his shoulder at his friend before looking at Bel, "it's between me and you now."

A feral grin appeared on Bel's face, giving Fran the chills.

"That's the way I want it," Bel said, letting out a small chuckle.

"I'm sorry," Takashi said as he walked towards Fran, wrapping an arm around Fran's waist and pulling him close.

"It's not your fault you suck at racing," Fran said, shrugging and pulling away from Takashi and heading towards Spanner and Mukuro.

"I'm going home, I have homework to do," Fran said looking at the two of them.

"Okay, glad to have you back, Little One," Mukuro said, giving Fran a smile before heading towards Ken and Chrome who were just looking back and forth between Takashi and Bel who were having a stare down.

"I'll see you at home," Spanner said, patting Fran's back and heading towards the garage.

"Let's go," Fran said, taking Haru's hand and pulling her up the stairs.

"Takashi Mochida get over here right now!" Haru shouted angrily as she was pulled away by Fran.

Takashi left his staring match with Bel and began to run to catch up with Haru and Fran who were already at the parking lot.

Fran unlocked the car and looked down to the tracks. He saw Bel looking back up at him and he looked back before getting into his car and driving away.


	15. Chapter 15

Mammon wanted to punch him.

Bel wanted to slice his smile off.

Spanner wanted to break his neck.

Shoichi wanted to blow him up.

Ken and Chikusa wanted to bury him in their backyards. Alive.

M.M wanted to shove paint down his throat and Chrome wanted to shove an octopus down his throat.

Fran wanted to do all of the above.

"Aren't you guys excited?" Mukuro squealed as he looked at all of them with bright eyes.

"Actually I think we're all having similar thoughts of killing you right now," Shoichi said as he nodded his head.

Everyone present agreed, except for Xanxus who stepped forward and wrapped an arm around Mukuro's waist.

"You ungrateful brats are going whether you want to or not," Xanxus said with a tone of finality.

"A member training camp though?" M.M groaned, her shoulders slumping before she stood straight once again, remembering that ladies needed to have a proper posture.

"Yes!" Mukuro said delightedly. "It'll be fun! You'll all get closer and learn how to work together."

"So that's what this is about," Fran muttered, throwing a glance over to Bel who was probably thinking the same thing.

"Why aren't Squalo, Levi, and Lussuria coming?" Chikusa asked.

"They went a few years back," Xanxus said, "Squalo almost drowned Levi in the pool and Lussuria always had a gun pointed to his throat."

"It's important to do this since we joined together. The elders aren't going because they should know better and well because we told them they'd excluded if they made efforts to get closer to you younger ones," Mukuro explained with a small huff.

"Bel's a grandpa though," Fran pointed out.

"If I'm a grandpa then you're an infant," Bel said, crossing his arms over his chest.

Fran turned to Spanner, reaching his arms out to the elder, "Carry me."

Spanner chuckled and pulled the boy into his arms, holding him tightly.

"I don't get why us mechanics have to go though," Shoichi grumbled.

"You're going for different reasons," Mukuro said, a mischievous look in his eyes.

"You'll still have to go through the training though," Xanxus said, crushing any hopes the two mechanics had of getting away from the bonding.

"We leave tomorrow so pack enough clothes for about a week and be ready by six," Mukuro said as a way to dismiss everyone.

They all nodded before heading towards the parking lot. Complaints were heard all around as they all got into their own cars and drove off.

Mammon pulled out his phone and sent a quick text. His phone vibrated seconds later and his heart clenched at the words on his screen.

_I'll miss you. Come back soon, okay?_


	16. Chapter 16

Bel growled as he kicked the back of Mukuro's seat, "Why do we have to go with you two?"

"Because you two are the babies of your respective teams and we're like the daddies so we're like a family," Mukuro said as he bounced excitedly in his seat.

"What about our cars?" Fran asked as he pulled his seat belt on.

"Spanner and Shoichi will be taking them," Xanxus said and pulled out of the lot and drove onto the streets.

"Spanner was still sleeping when I left," Fran huffed and looked out the window. The sky was just beginning to light up, the sun still not ready to grace their side of the world with light. Mukuro had somehow snuck into his house earlier and pulled him out of bed and forced him to get ready before pulling him downstairs. Fran guessed they had done the same to Bel.

"Well it is five thirty-two am," Mukuro said with a shrug. "Are you boy's hungry?"

Bel and Fran both let out small groans of 'yes' and Mukuro handed the two of them a pack of Poptarts each.

Fran scrunched his nose at the cherry Poptart packet and then looked over to Bel who seemed to be glaring at his blueberry Poptarts. Bel looked over to Fran and the two silently switched packs.

"I don't get why we can't take our own cars," Fran grumbled as he munched on his breakfast.

"Like I said, we want that family feeling," Mukuro said.

"Then you should bring your own families and hand me off to Verde or Mammon...actually Mammon comes along with this guy" Fran jabbed his thumb in Bel's direction, "so just give me to Verde or Spanner. Even Gamma will do."

Mukuro rolled his eyes and took both Fran's and Bel's trash, stuffing it in a plastic bag before handing them juices, "You're coming with us because we want you to, okay?"

"Actually I'd rather it just be us two," Xanxus said, "I was hoping for some car sex."

Fran choked on his juice, swallowing roughly before coughing while Bel gagged and scrunched his nose.

"Breathe, Little One," Mukuro said, reaching over and patting Fran's back.

Fran swatted Mukuro's hand away and leaned back in his seat, slumping down in it and looking out the window.

A few minutes into the ride, Mukuro and Xanxus turned on the radio and began to sing along to the old country songs. Fran groaned and pulled his earphones and iPod out, Bel doing the same.

Fran leaned his head against the window as he listened to the music coming from the earphones. He felt his eyes fluttering shut, the feeling of not having slept well enough for 3 days hitting him roughly. He shut his eyes and allowed himself to fall asleep.

Bel sat slumped in his seat, his arms crossed over his stomach as he nodded his head to the music from his iPod. He looked to his left and saw that Fran was sleeping against the door, his face pressed into the window. He rolled his eyes behind his bangs and reached over to Fran as he slid closer to the boy. He pulled Fran against his side, resting the boys head against his shoulder.

_You'll hurt yourself if you sleep against the window like that...and if you get hurt Mammon will be upset,_ Bel thought to himself as he fiddled with the sleeve of Fran's hoodie.

The blonde slowly felt himself growing sleepy. He had spent the night with Mammon and hadn't gotten as much sleep as he normally did, having to wake up 2 hours after he fell asleep.

Bel plopped his head down on Fran's, letting his eyes close and drifting off to sleep.


	17. Chapter 17

"What is this place?" Bel asked as he looked through the window at the elegant mansion that Xanxus was driving towards.

"It's my summer home," Mukuro said proudly.

"It's February…." Bel grumbled and laid his head back on Fran's.

"Yes but I think it's a good place for all of us to become closer," Mukuro said with a bright smile.

Once the car came to a stop in front of the garage that was off to the side of the mansion, Mukuro jumped out of the car and ran inside, leaving Xanxus to carry his luggage inside and Bel to wake Fran up.

Bel sighed and moved Fran from his shoulder to the door. He slid out from the other side and went around to Fran's side, opening the door and slipping his hands under Fran's sleeping body. He slid Fran out and carried him into the mansion after asking Xanxus to get their bags as well.

"Hey, where do I dump him?" Bel asked Mukuro who was rolling around the floor in the foyer.

"There are rooms on the second floor with your names on them," Mukuro said, stopping his rolling momentarily before continuing again.

Bel nodded and carried Fran up the stairs, frowning when he realized just how light the boy was. He walked down the hallway to the left, walking into the room with Fran's name on it when he spotted it. He quickly went to the bed and plopped Fran down on it, watching as Fran grumbled something in his sleep and turned onto his side.

"You probably haven't slept much…huh?" Bel said as he walked to the balcony, the sun already high up in the sky and brightening up the room. "Don't misunderstand, I don't like you… you just really need your rest."

Bel sighed before turning away from the balcony and leaving the room without looking back at Fran.

By the time the others arrived it was nearly dinner time and Mukuro was graciously greeted by several complaints from the others.

"You sent us the wrong way you jerk!" Spanner growled as he shook the purple haired male.

"It was so you could sight see!" Mukuro explained, wiggling away from Spanner's hands and running towards Xanxus, hiding behind the elder.

"What the hell were we supposed to see?" Spanner asked. "Snow, snow and more snow? Or maybe mountains covered by SNOW?"

"Yes?" Mukuro said, shrieking and running away when Spanner came after him with a wrench.

"Spanner, calm down," Shoichi said, reaching out for Spanner, and stopping the blonde, "it wasn't that bad."

"Chrome has to defrost her phone," Spanner said, glaring at Shoichi and pointing at Chrome who was blowing hot air on her phone.

"Just throw it in the microwave, dear," Mukuro said, patting Chrome back.

Spanner groaned and smacked a hand to his face, "Idiot."

"Where's Mammon?" Bel asked as he walked down the stairs. He had been unpacking in his room when he heard all the ruckus and decided to go check.

"Here," Mammon said from behind Chikusa, waving his hand at Bel.

Bel smiled and run down the remaining stairs before embracing Mammon tightly.

"Where's Fran?" Spanner asked, his eyes settling on Mukuro who was whistling innocently.

"Bel, you dropped him off in his room earlier, right?" Mukuro asked, directing Spanner's glare over to the blonde who was tightly holding Mammon.

"He's in his room," Bel said, pointing upstairs before leaning down to resume kissing Mammon.

Spanner scrunched his face at the sight before going upstairs, followed by Ken and Chikusa. Ken ran passed him and ran into a room before Chikusa who was running after him.

"Hey!" Ken shouted as he jumped onto the bed beside Fran who stirred in his sleep and buried his face into Ken's thigh. "I know you're sleepy and all but if you don't wake up now you won't sleep tonight."

"He has a point," Chikusa said as he poked Fran's sided.

Spanner simply watched from the door, arms crossed, and a smile on his face as he watched Fran fight away Ken and Chikusa.

"Alright, alright," Fran grumbled, swatting Ken and Chikusa's hands away before sitting up and rubbing his eyes. He looked out the large window in front of his bed to see that the sun was close to settling behind the mountains.

"Did you sleep well?" asked Spanner as he walked towards Fran, lightly nudging Ken to the side so he could sit on the bed. He pulled Fran into his arms, cradling him against his chest.

"Yeah…" Fran said tiredly, "…I remember falling asleep in the car though. What is this place anyway?"

"Mukuro's summer home," Chikusa answered.

"It's February…" Fran sighed, burying his face into Spanner's chest.

"Hey, Mukuro says it's dinner time," M.M said from the doorway, her hands on her hips as she watched the scene before her and Chrome at her side.

"We'll be down soon, Fran just needs to wipe off his drool," Spanner said teasingly as he ran his thumb over Fran's bottom lip.

Fran pouted and pushed Spanner's hand away before rubbing at the corners of his mouth.

M.M sighed and rolled her eyes before strolling into the room, pulling a wet wipe out and rubbing at the corners of Fran's mouth and cheeks, "There, now lets go."

Spanner watched with a pout as M.M took Fran's hand and pulled him out of the room along with Chrome. He looked over to Ken and Chikusa who were just staring at him before pushing them out of the rooming, closing the door behind him.

Down in the dining room, Bel, Mammon, Xanxus, Mukuro and Shoichi were already sitting at the table, patiently waiting for the others to arrive.

When M.M entered the dining room with her hands wrapped around Fran and Chrome's own hands, everyone raised an eyebrow. M.M placed Fran down on a chair on the opposite side of Mammon before sitting Chrome down in another and sitting between the two.

Spanner, Ken and Chikusa entered next, Chikusa and Ken sitting next to Bel while Spanner took a seat next to Chrome. Xanxus sat at the head of the table while Mukuro sat to his right next to Fran and Shoichi sat to his left next to Mammon.

Xanxus called the servants in who began to place food at the table along with drinks before leaving.

"Well, let's eat," Mukuro said, clapping his hands before piling his plate with food, others following after him.

As Fran chewed on a piece of bread he saw Xanxus and Mukuro sharing mischievous glances. He frowned inwardly and wondered what they were up to before accepting the buttered garlic bread Mammon was offering him.


	18. Chapter 18

Spanner glared angrily at Mukuro as the elder pulled a very sleepy Fran into the garden where everyone else was currently lined up.

Fran jerked his arm away from Mukuro and stumbled to where Spanner was at, wrapping his arms around the blonde's waist and settling his head against his chest with a pleased sigh.

"Why are we out here?" Chrome asked groggily as she rubbed her eyes.

"I'll explain that right away," Mukuro said as he placed his hands behind his back. "We are here to begin our bonding exercises. We will be pairing you up today," Mukuro pulled Fran away from Spanner and towards someone else and Fran's eyes snapped open when he felt something snap around his wrist. He heard the sound of someone protesting before Mukuro smirked and stepped back, "You will be paired up just like this."

Fran gulped and turned his head to see who he was handcuffed to. He groaned and lowered his head when he saw it was Ken who was currently yelling profanities at Mukuro, threatening to bite his pineapple head off.

"Out of everyone here, why him?" groaned Fran.

"I think you and Ken could become great friends if you spend some time together," Mukuro said sweetly as he rubbed his hands together.

"The point of this was to make people who aren't close get along," Spanner said. "You know, like…a better idea would have been to handcuff Bel and Fran together."

"Never mind, I'm totally okay with Ken," Fran said quickly as he pulled Ken closer. "We don't get along at all and this will help us grow closer, right, Ken?"

Ken sighed and crossed his arms before nodding and cuddling closer to Fran's warmth, hoping that Mukuro would let them go soon.

"Excuse me but, Chrome and I are already close," M.M said as she waved the hand that was handcuffed to Chrome's in the air.

"Well we couldn't handcuff you two to a male so just deal with it," Mukuro said as he shrugged.

"Must I really be handcuffed to this guy?" Mammon groaned as he tugged at the chain that connected Shoichi and himself.

Mukuro nodded before he looked over to Bel and Chikusa, "Any complaints you two?"

"I don't really care as long as I don't have to be anywhere near that damn brat," Bel grumbled sleepily while Chikusa agreed that he didn't care with a nod.

Mukuro chuckled and shook his head before handing a key to Spanner, "This is to uncuff them if anything happens and this way they'll all hate you and not me, toodles!"

And then he was gone, running off with Xanxus to one of the cars and driving off.

"Do you think he'll be back?" Shoichi asked Spanner as he scratched at his metal covered wrist.

"I hope not," Spanner said and shoved the key into his pocket. "Alright, everyone inside."


	19. Chapter 19

"This is bull," Fran grumbled as he leaned against the couch, watching as Ken sucked face with Chikusa.

"Dammit, I totally forget about this," Bel groaned and threw himself onto the floor, causing the chain to pull Chikusa a little.

"Ah, I wonder if this was his real intention," Spanner said as he walked into the living room with snacks.

"What do you mean?" asked Fran as he reached out for the snacks only to find he couldn't reach because Ken currently had his arms wrapped around Chikusa.

"I mean that Mukuro may have intended to get you and Bel close together in a different way," Spanner said and shoved a cheese covered cracker into Fran's mouth.

"I'm going to murder that man," Bel growled and banged his head against the carpet.

"This is stupid," Fran grumbled as he chewed the cracker.

"It's actually pretty smart. You and Bel need to get along and it wouldn't happen if you were chained together so he chained the two of you to people who are mostly always with each other," Spanner said brightly before shoving a carrot stick into Bel's mouth and celery with peanut butter into Fran's.

"That frog and I need to do nothing of the sort," Bel said after swallowing his carrot hesitantly.

"I agree with the pig," Fran said with a nod of his head before tugging on the chain to get Ken's attention. "Come on, we're leaving."

"B-but…Chikusa," Ken whined.

"You can see him some other day," Fran said and tugged harder on the chain, forcing Ken to come along unless he wanted his wrist dislocated.

"I'll be back!" Ken called out to Chikusa as he was dragged away, Chikusa simply waving as he watched his boyfriend get pulled away.

Spanner sighed and rubbed his forehead, "What will it take for you to get along with Fran?"

"A miracle?" Bel said and shrugged before standing up. "Let's go take a nap, Chikusa."

Chikusa nodded and said his goodbyes to Spanner before leaving with Bel.

Spanner groaned and leaned back on the sofa.

"A miracle, huh?"


	20. Chapter 20

**(A/N) This double update is dedicated to my dear wifeband who has found the place she wants to be (other than by my side) ^^.**

**Enjoy~!**

* * *

><p>After three days of being handcuffed to Ken, Fran was beginning to get used to being dragged around by the dog-like boy.<p>

Ken would run into the bathroom first thing in the morning and he and Fran would do their normal clean up routine before going off to meet Chikusa and Bel. They would spend the majority of their day with the two of them and then Fran would grow tired of being near Bel and forcefully pull Ken away from Chikusa. Fran would pull Ken to any part of the house as long as it was far from where Chikusa and Bel were at and would deal with Ken's whining.

The one thing Fran still could not get used to was being near Bel. Thanks to Ken's need to always be with Chikusa, Fran was around Bel quite often and he couldn't stand it. They would either bicker or just sit there quietly while Chikusa and Ken cuddled together. Mammon and Shoichi would join them occasionally and then Fran and Shoichi would have to deal with both Chikusa and Ken and Mammon and Bel being coupley. Sometimes Spanner would step in and save them with promises of snacks or a meal for the couples or he would just assign the handcuffed groups chores.

The only couple who was okay with being handcuffed together was M.M and Chrome. They had no complaints and would always compromise. Fran was jealous that they got out of having to be around couples being well, couples. Though he did have a suspicion that there was something going on between the two girls. He just really didn't want to know if he was right or not.

On the fourth day, Fran was walking down the stairs with Chikusa to get breakfast when he noticed Mammon talking to someone at the front door. He curiously walked towards Mammon, dragging a hungry Chikusa with him. Fran made a motion to tell the other to stay quiet and Ken frowned but obliged. The green haired teen and dog-like teen crept up behind Mammon to see who he and Shoichi were talking to. Fran's eye nearly went wide when he saw who it was.

"Oh, Fran, good morning," Verde greeted as he squeezed passed Mammon and walked towards Fran, embracing his nephew and ruffling his hair. Ken decided he wanted in on the family moment and wrapped his arms around the two of them, earning himself weird looks from two pairs of green eyes.

"Why are you here?" Fran questioned his uncle as he pulled away from the elder.

"Mukuro called me and said you could use my company and then Spanner called and asked if I could stop by so here I am," Verde replied.

"You came, you saw, now leave," Mammon ordered as he pointed at the open door.

"Mammon, no need to be so cruel," Verde said, smiling a bit, "now be a dear and close that door, it's going to get cold in here and our little Fran is in shorts."

Mammon looked Fran over, examining the sweater his nephew wore and the long sleeved under it and then he looked down to see that Fran was indeed wearing ball shorts and socks. He sighed and slammed the door shut before tugging Shoichi away from the area and heading towards the kitchen.

"We can talk later, I want breakfast," Fran said as he tugged on the chain to snap Ken out of his dreamland and began to walk with the dirty blonde to the kitchen.

In the kitchen, Bel and Chikusa sat side by side with Mammon sitting next to Bel and Shoichi next to Mammon. Spanner was flipping eggs and pancakes at the stove and Fran went to his side and began to help him. Spanner gave Fran a smile of gratitude and Fran simply nodded before shoving a piece of egg into Ken's mouth. Ken happily ate the egg and showed appreciation by leaning on Fran's shoulder affectionately. Fran reached up to pat his head before flipping a pancake.

"Looks like the frog is trying to steal your boyfriend, Chikusa," Bel said as he took as sip of juice.

Fran simply rolled his eyes and continued with his work.

"I don't think so, Ken is loyal and Fran is a good friend, he's fed us before," Chikusa said sticking his tongue out at Bel.

Bel frowned and leaned into Mammon.

"Who's trying to steal whose boyfriend?" Fran asked as he turned around with two plates, his eyes unintentionally meeting Verde's. Fran's eyes narrowed a bit when Verde flinched but he ignored it and placed a plate in front of Mammon and Verde before going back to grab more.

"Stop pretending you weren't paying attention, frog," Bel muttered as he peeled piece of pancake off of Mammon's plate and popped it into his own mouth.

"I was too focused on spitting in your food to pay attention to your stupid conversation," Fran said as he placed a plate in front of Bel and another in front of Chikusa. He bit back a grin when Bel pushed the plate away and glared at it.

"He didn't spit in it, Bel," Spanner sighed as he put plates for everyone else on the table and sat down.

"I don't trust you either, you're an accomplice," Bel said and pointed at Shoichi who flinched away, "you too."

Mammon rolled his eyes before he switched plates with Bel and silently ordered him to be quiet.

"Where are M.M and Chrome?" Fran asked as he cut into his pancake.

"They went out to the local mall, they said they'd be back after dinner," Spanner answered and reached over for the syrup, pouring some onto his pancakes before handing it to Fran. He watched as Fran nearly drowned his pancakes in syrup and snatched it away from the boy before he could flood his plate with the sweet substance.

Shoichi's eyes went wide when he glanced at Fran's plate, "Oh gosh, is he gonna get sugar high again?"

"Maybe, that's fine though 'cause he'll just lay there and not argue with blondie over there," Spanner said as he gestured to Bel with his head.

"Who's calling who a blondie?" Bel growled and glared at Spanner.

Spanner just shrugged and attempted to remove some of the syrup off of Fran's plate only to become involved in a fork fight with the younger.

"Will you be staying?" Mammon asked Verde.

"Unfortunately, I can't stay," Verde replied and a smirk appeared on his face. "Did you want me to stay, Mammon?"

"No," Mammon said quickly before shoving a piece of his egg into his mouth.

Bel turned his glare from Spanner to Verde, his arm moving to wrap possessively around Mammon's waist.

"I want you to stay," Fran muttered as he pushed a syrup soaked pancake slice into his mouth.

"I want you to stop taking in so much sugar," Verde said as he watched Fran eat.

"It helps wash away the awful taste of Spanner's cooking," Fran shrugged and ate another slice.

"What?" Spanner snapped his head to look at Fran who was practically inhaling his food.

"I think he's gotten there already," Shoichi said as he poked Fran's cheek only to get no response from the teen.

"Alright," Spanner said as he pulled away the fork from Fran and placed it down on the syrupy plate, "you're going to take a nap, okay?"

"No nap, I want fruit snacks," Fran said softly as he was pulled out of his chair, his eyes hazing over as the sugar began to act up.

"This looks fun," Ken said as he watched intently with Chikusa.

"I just learned something new about my nephew, great," Verde said as he watched Fran argue with Spanner about fruit snacks.

"He's very unique," Mammon said proudly, a smile on his face.

"Okay, nap time," Spanner uncuffed Ken from Fran and threw his friend onto his shoulder.

Fran became tranquil and just rested his cheek on Spanner's back. He sunk his teeth into the fabric of Spanner's shirt and poked Spanner's butt but didn't protest to being carried out.

"That kid is weird," Bel said as he watched Spanner and Fran leave before going back to his pancakes.

"You can't speak," Mammon said, poking Bel's cheek, he continued, "you curl up and mutter about blood when you get sugar high."

Bel pouted and whined, "Mammon!"

Mammon simply smirked and continued to eat.


	21. Chapter 21

Early the next morning, Fran felt himself being cuffed to someone and loud noises of protest coming from a voice that tingled nicely in his ears.

"Fran, get up," he heard Spanner order but Fran just groaned and turned around which ended up with him pulling the other person as well.

"Dammit, brat, stop pulling me," the pleasant voice growled and Fran snapped his eyes open to see that he was chained to Bel.

"Spanner, you are no longer my best friend," Fran said groggily as he tugged at the chain that connected Bel and himself.

"Whatever you say, darling, now get out of bed, you have some errands to run with Bel here," Spanner said as he tugged Fran out of the bed.

"Errands? With this guy?" Bel groaned as he pointed at Fran who was rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"Gimmie the list, the sooner we get this over with the sooner we can be uncuffed and I can go back to sleep," Fran held out his hand and Spanner handed him a list.

Fran looked at the first two items on the list, balled the paper up, and threw it at Spanner's face.

"Condoms?" Fran practically growled, "Lubricant?"

"Hayato is coming over," Spanner shrugged and passed the note to Bel who wrinkled his nose at it.

"So your boyfriend can stay but my uncle can't," Fran grumbled as he crossed his arms. He had protested a bit in his sugar high state when Verde had to leave but he didn't regret it. Verde was a person Fran felt happy around so he, of course, wanted him to stay.

"Verde had to leave for work, Hayato has time off so he's going to be spending some time with us," Spanner said with a smirk.

"Great, now Shoichi and I will be the only ones not sucking face," Fran groaned.

"M.M and Chrome…" Spanner began and was cut off by Fran.

"There's something going on between those two, I just know it," Fran sighed and shook his head.

"Wow, well now that I know this and if we think about it, Shoichi has a boyfriend so you're the only single one here," Spanner said teasingly.

"Ushishishi, the frog is lonely," Bel chuckled.

Fran simply glared at Spanner before tugging Bel out of the room and down the stairs where he pulled his converse on, grabbed the keys to a random car, and walked outside and towards the garage.

"Frog, stop," Bel said as he planted his feet in the ground, causing the still moving Fran to plop down into the snow.

"What?" Fran groaned as he pulled himself up.

"Are you really going out like that?" Bel said as he gestured to Fran's Kermit pajama pants and Bugs Bunny hoodie.

"Problem?" Fran asked as he crossed his arms. "This is Fran style."

Bel rolled his eyes before gasping when the eldest blonde grabbed onto the chain that connected Fran and himself and tugged the two of them towards the Accord. Spanner uncuffed Fran first and pushed him into the car before uncuffing Bel and leading him to the other side.

"I won't make you go through the supermarket in cuffs but don't fight, okay?" Spanner said before shutting Bel's door and walking back into the house.

"Why do you get to drive?" Bel frowned as he watched Fran start the engine and back out of the garage and down the driveway.

"Because it's my car," Fran said simply before pressing on the gas pedal and heading towards the supermarket.

~0~0~0~0~

"I want these," Bel said as he held up a box of Toy Story fruit snacks.

Fran almost said no but then remembered that they would be using Spanner's money and nodded, "Grab whatever you want, Spanner is paying anyway."

Bel grinned and tossed a few boxes of the fruit snacks into the cart before following Fran to the frozen food section.

"Are you really okay with being the only single person?" Bel asked while Fran looked over the ice cream options.

"It doesn't bother me, I just haven't found someone that completes me the same way everyone else has," Fran answered as he opened the fridge and pulled out two tubs of ice cream.

Bel bit his lip before asking, "How do you feel about Spanner?"

Fran sighed and licked his lips, "Look, I loved Spanner in a romantic way once but then I felt like those feelings became more of a friendly love. I know Spanner loves me in _that_ way, he's so damn obvious."

"And you don't care that he's sleeping with someone else when he feels that way about you?" Bel asked as he put a jar of cherries into the cart.

"I do care, I wish he'd just feel that way about Hayato," Fran replied, "I want him to forget those feelings he has for me, I want him to turn that love he has for me into the same love I have for him."

"I've never heard you say the word 'love' so much in one sentence," Bel chuckled and placed sprinkles into the cart as well.

Fran rolled his eyes and he pushed the cart into another aisle. He grabbed two tubes from a shelf and held them up to Bel.

"Strawberry or mint?"

~0~0~0~0~

This all felt too familiar to Fran. Almost like… 

"Déjà vu," Fran said and took a deep breath, "going to get groceries for Spanner only to get challenged to a race by someone in an awesome car while I only have an Accord." Fran looked over to Bel and shook his head, "Only thing is that you're here this time so it's a nightmare."

"Shut up," Bel said as he reached over and flicked the headlights, letting the other person or people in the car beside them know that they accepted their challenge.

The Mazda 6's headlights flashed once, and Bel flicked the Accord's headlights. Both cars flicked their headlights at the same time and Fran quickly changed gears before pushing down on the gas and speeding off at the same time the Mazda did.

"I hope this doesn't lead me to meeting another pineapple head," Fran said as he turned around the corner roughly.

"Focus," Bel growled. The frog was too tense and that was causing his turns to be rough and his speed to become shaky. Bel needed the teen to calm down before they crashed or lost the race. Either one would hurt.

Fran looked down at the monitor that Spanner had installed into the Accord sometime during their time at Mukuro's summer house. The Mazda has sent them directions and Fran was having a little bit of trouble following them, he had opted to take shortcuts instead.

"Follow the directions, brat," Bel snapped before realizing that this wouldn't help Fran relax. So he just sat back and sighed.

Fran nodded and began to follow the directions, watching as the line on the monitor returned to its original form.

"This is bull, how does anyone expect me to win in an Accord?" Fran questioned no one in particular as he turned and rammed against the Mazda.

"You've won while using an Accord before," Bel said as he watched the Mazda close in on them. "Move out of the way, Froggy."

Fran raised an eyebrow as he sped up, passing the Mazda by a few feet and avoiding being crushed against the Mazda and a rock wall.

"Did you just call me Froggy?" Fran asked through gritted teeth as he made a sharp turn.

"Problem?" Bel asked, a small smirk on his face as he checked the monitor to see that the Mazda was about 10 feet away from them.

Fran shook his head as he neared the finish point. He pushed on the breaks as he passed the point and waited for the Mazda. He expected the other to stop and leave his/her car but they just kept going and Fran noticed the connection between the cars disconnect.

"Che, coward," Bel grumbled as he crossed his arms and leaned back in his seat.

Fran nodded and switched gears before he began to drive back to the house.

~0~0~0~0~

The first thing Fran did when he got back to the summer house was march into the house and throw the keys at Spanner.

"I am never going grocery shopping for you again!" Fran growled as he ran upstairs.

Spanner gave Bel a questioning look to which the other blonde simply shrugged at before going to put the groceries in the kitchen. Spanner worriedly ran up the stairs after Fran.

"Is this about the condoms?"


	22. Chapter 22

**(A/N) This chapter is dedicated to Big Bang. CONGRATS GUYS =D!**

* * *

><p>"Did you really have to buy thirty boxes of fruit snacks?" Spanner sighed as he looked at the boxes of fruits snacks there were stacked on top of each other in two towers.<p>

"Yes," Fran said from behind the counter. He bit his lip as he angled his plate correctly and flung it at one of the towers, causing it to come down crashing.

In the background, Bel burst out laughing and Hayato and Spanner sighed.

"You're a kid," Spanner said and whacked Fran on the head with one of the boxes.

"I know," Fran said in a matter-of-fact tone.

The teen took one of the boxes and opened it up, pulling the fruit snacks out and stuffing them into his pockets, "I'm going for a walk."

"You better not liter," Spanner shouted after Fran as the younger left the kitchen.

"Green power," Fran pumped his fist into the air before leaving.

"I don't understand how you live with him," Bel muttered to himself as he sipped at his coffee.

"You'd understand if you had met him nine years ago," Spanner scowled, grabbed his own drink and left the kitchen, Hayato calling out to him as he left the kitchen as well.

Bel frowned at his coffee, suddenly feeling a bit sick in his stomach.

~0~0~0~0~

Fran sighed as he watched the white mountains go by from the window.

They were all finally heading home after their week at Mukuro's summer house. The pineapple head and Xanxus had showed up early in the morning to tell them to pack up and head home. Mukuro had been a bit disappointed to see most pairings free of their cuffs but said nothing and left the house with Xanxus.

Fran had decided to ride with Shoichi in his Accord since riding with anyone else would have been disturbing. Spanner and Hayato were riding back in Hayato's car, Mammon and Bel in Bel's car, M.M and Chrome in Chrome's car and Ken and Chikusa in Chikusa's car.

Shoichi had agreed with Fran that riding back with anyone else would be a horrible experience and they had to get the Accord back to Fran and Spanner's house somehow.

"Do you think Hayato knows?" Shoichi asked as he flicked the lights to switch lanes. He scowled when Bel beeped from behind them and resisted the urge to back into the Audi. He was no racer but he could very well put a dent in a nice car.

"Knows what?" Fran whispered from the passenger seat, his cheek pressed tightly to the window and his breath fogging up the cold window.

"About Spanner's feeling for you," Shoichi said, detailing his question.

Fran sighed and closed his eyes. Why did it seem like everyone wanted to shove Spanner's already known feelings into his face?

"I don't care if he knows or not," Fran answered and pressed his cheek further into the cold glass.

Shoichi bit his lip and tightened his grip on the wheel, "Sorry for asking. It's just…I don't understand Spanner. I do understand why he loves you; you were first in his heart and probably always will be. I think he's just mistaking his love for you as something else. Maybe because…"

"Because I still need help…" Fran whispered lowly but not low enough since Shoichi nodded. Fran bit his lip and sighed, "I'm trying. I really am. I'm trying to not let him know I'm not getting much sleep. I'm trying to show him that I'll be okay without him…it all backfires when I pass out at dinner though."

Shoichi silently listened as Fran spoke, taking everything in.

"It's because I still need him that he feels like he needs to stay by me and love me even though his feelings for Hayato could develop into something much stronger if he just let me go," Fran groaned and rubbed his cheek against the window. He wished Spanner would understand that he didn't need to be in love with him. That Spanner didn't have to stay by his side forever. He wished Spanner could just be happy with Hayato.

"He'll understand someday," Shoichi said in a way that he hoped was comforting as he got off the highway. He saw a Dunkin Donuts close by and looked over at the boy beside him, "Do you want some hot chocolate?"

"Please."

~0~0~0~0~

"You have a lot to catch up on, home skillet," Takashi said as he sat down next to Fran in homeroom.

"I know," Fran groaned and pressed his forehead into his desk.

"Where were you?" Haru asked and sat down behind Fran, rubbing the boys back in a comforting way.

"Group bonding at Mukuro's summer home," Fran answered, his hand unconsciously rubbing his wrist as he thought about being handcuffed.

"It's winter though," Takashi said, his eyebrow rising in confusion.

"That's what I said," Fran said and leaned further into Haru's hands.

"Was it fun?" Haru asked, a bright smile on her face.

"No," Fran responded instantly.

"Um…okay then," Haru and Takashi said simultaneously, backing away a bit at Fran's tone.

Fran groaned and pushed his face into the desk, wishing the school day could finish quickly.


	23. Chapter 23

**(A/N) This chapter is dedicated to...ME =D! For finally beating _The World Ends With You_. I recommend it to anyone who has a DS. Play it. Seriously.**

* * *

><p>Fran stepped out of the school and into the cold air. He stuffed his gloved hands into the pockets of his hoodie, regretting having not worn the jacket Spanner had been shoving in his face that morning.<p>

He searched for his Accord only to remember that Spanner was giving Evelyn her monthly check up. The fact that Haru and Takeshi had not shown up to school that day just made him feel worse.

And a red Audi that was parked in front of his school made him want to double over and cry.

Fran angrily marched past the car, hoping the person inside it would just take a hint and leave him alone. But then he felt a scarf wrapping around his neck, momentarily choking him. He was then pulled towards the car and next thing he knew, he was sitting inside the car, warm air wrapping around him.

"You're a jerk, you know that?" Fran said through clenched teeth as he moved closer to the door.

"You won't get out, it has childs lock," Bel said as he buckled his seat belt, reaching over to buckle Fran up once he was done. He started the car and began to drive off onto the foggy streets.

Fran grumbled angrily as he undid his seat belt, tugging it a bit to make it looser before buckling it back up and putting the chest strap behind his back.

"That's not the proper way to wear your seat belt, you should know that," Bel said, a small frown pulling at his lips.

"I don't care, being strapped up like that makes me uncomfortable," Fran said, slumping in his seat.

"It's not safe," Bel said calmly.

Fran shrugged and sat up, his back becoming tired from slumping.

Bel's eye narrowed behind his bangs. He pressed his foot down on the gas pedal, raising his speed. From the corner of his eye he could see Fran tense up and he decided to step it up a notch.

Fran gasped as his body banged into the door when Bel turned sharply, nearly hitting an 18-wheeler. He lurched forward when Bel roughly hit the brakes before parking on a corner.

The blonde reached over and undid Fran's seat belt.

"This," Bel said as he tightened the belt before buckling it in, "is to keep you in place in case of accidents," Bel pulled the chest strap over Fran's head and put it across Fran's chest, "this is to make sure you don't go through the windshield, your back doesn't need it."

Fran nodded numbly, his hands going up to wrap around the chest strap that was securing his chest. He felt Bel's hand settle over his before it pulled away and the blonde started to drive off again.

Bel bit his lip as he looked over to Fran who still looked extremely tense, "We have a pair race soon. Next month to be exact."

"Against who?" Fran asked, feeling himself relax.

"I don't know, Mukuro just told me to let you know," Bel said with a shrug.

Fran nodded and wrapped his arms around himself, wondering why it was so cold in March.

"You know there's a groundhog that predicts if spring will come soon or if we'll have six more weeks of winter. Isn't that cool?" Bel said. "Mammon was watching it on the news; apparently we have six more weeks of winter."

Fran decided at that moment that he was going to run over that groundhog.


	24. Chapter 24

Bel parked his Audi in the lot and stepped out. He began to walk towards where everyone else was gathered before remembering that Fran was in his car. He walked back and opened the door, allowing the green haired teen to step out and storm past him. Bel chuckled and followed after the frog, a small grin on his face as he walked.

The two reached a space where both Mukuro and Xanxus' cars were parked. The two car owners were standing side by side with Shoichi and Chrome.

"So, who are we racing?" Bel asked as he and Fran approached the other four, his hands laced together behind his head.

Mukuro looked a bit tense, his fingers laced tightly with Xanxus' as he bit his lip. Even Shoichi and Chrome looked a bit nervous.

"What's wrong?" Fran asked, standing beside Bel who looked a bit confused.

"We received a letter of challenge from the Millefiore for the two of you…" Mukuro began nervously, "it's for a race between you two and…Genkishi and Rasiel."

"No fucking way," Bel snapped, anger visibly showing on his features.

"We've already accepted, brat," Xanxus said, glaring lightly at the blonde.

"Why don't we have a choice?" Bel shouted

"They asked for something that we can not give them if we refused their challenge," Mukuro explained.

"What?" Bel gritted out through clenched teeth.

"They demanded that we give them Fran if we were to refuse. You know how they are, Belphegor, they would have taken him by any means if we refused," Mukuro said, his voice strict.

Bel scowled, his body trembling with anger as he thought about everything. He knew very well that the Millefiore would stoop as low as even kidnapping to get their payment. If Mukuro had refused, they would have taken Fran by force.

Fran, who continued to stand by Bel's side, watched everything happen. He was curious about these Millefiore guys and why they upset Bel so much. Most importantly at the moment though, was the fact that Bel looked ready to burst.

Fran slowly reached over to where one of Bel's fists was balled up tightly and wrapped his hand around it. He rubbed his thumb against it slowly for a few second before the fist began to open up and Fran could slip his hand into Bel's. This was a technique he used for Spanner whenever he got upset and the teen supposed it would work for Bel as well.

"Why those two?" Bel croaked out, his voice calmer but still holding the same anger from earlier.

"They know it'll bother you," Shoichi said, "they know it'll be harder for you to focus on winning when the brother you hate so much is close to you."

"Brother?" Fran asked, snapping to attention. "We're racing your twin brother?"

"Rasiel," Bel said the name as if it were poison.

"This ought to be fun," Fran said more to himself than anyone else.

"Don't take this so lightly, brat," Bel snapped at Fran, his hand tightening around the smaller one.

Fran nodded. The look Bel had on his face gave him the hint that it would be unwise to mess with him now. So he turned to Mukuro, "Can we go home now?"

Mukuro nodded, "The race is in April, the second week."

Fran nodded and tugged at Bel's hand, silently telling the elder he better start following him or he'd end up being dragged on the floor. Fortunately, Bel followed Fran to the Audi where he pulled his hand away from the smaller one and unlocked the car. Bel climbed in first and Fran followed. Bel began to drive out of the lot and into the streets.

Fran leaned back in the seat and sighed softly.

"Drop me off at the park."

~0~0~0~0~

"Uni, do you think anyone could hate me enough to kill me?" Fran asked the small girl as he colored in the clouds on his coloring page.

"Why would anyone want to kill you?" Uni countered, a small frown on her face.

"I don't know, just –pass me the blue- answer the question," Fran said, taking the blue crayon from the small girl.

"Hmm," Uni tapped her lip thoughtfully, "I think people can kill you, but if they kill you because they hate you then there is something wrong with them because you are a person that's very hard to hate. Why are you asking this anyway?"

"I think Bel tried killing me with his seatbelt lesson earlier," Fran sighed and picked up a purple to color in the teddy bear before a small hand slapped his.

"Are you really going to color Mr. Cuddles purple?" Uni asked, a judging look in her young eyes.

"Um…" Fran began and let the crayon go. He took the pink crayon that Uni handed him and began to color in the teddy bear.

"I don't think Bel is out to kill you," Uni said, "I don't think he hates you either."

"You don't know him," Fran said.

"Neither do you," Uni threw back at him, leaving Fran floored.

He truly did not know the real personality of Belphegor Cabrera.

Fran lowered his head, defeated, and went back to his coloring. It was quiet for a few minutes when the front door opened and closed.

"Daddy's home," Gamma said, his tone one of someone who was wondering why their daughter wasn't excited to see him.

"Hi, daddy," Uni greeted, her eyes not leaving her coloring page.

"Would you like me to run into your arms in joy?" Fran asked, just like Uni, he had not looked up from his coloring page.

"No," Gamma sighed and crashed on the couch behind Fran and Uni. "You can go home now, Fran."

"Very well then," Fran said as he stood up from the floor, stretching a bit, "I shall leave since it seems that I am no longer wanted here."

"Daddy! Don't be mean to Fran!" Uni scolded her father.

"It's okay, Uni," Fran smiling inwardly at the look on Gamma's face, "I'll run over his mailbox later."

"Brat," Gamma grumbled and Fran gave him a thumbs up.

"See ya later, Uni," Fran said as he began to walk to the door.

"Fran," Uni called out, stopping Fran. Fran turned around to catch a distant look in Uni's eyes before they filled with concern, "Be careful, Fran."

Fran narrowed his eyes a bit but nodded and left the house.


	25. Chapter 25

April.

A time for heavy rain, warmth, and allergies.

Fran decided to add racing to that list as well. It was already two weeks into April and every member of the Varia-Kokuyo alliance except Bel and Fran had had their schedules full with races against random racers and pairs. Mukuro and Xanxus had been keeping Bel and Fran from racing anyone but each other during practice while Spanner and Mammon kept the two of them well fed and rested.

Well, at least Bel was well rested. Fran peaked over to where Bel's head was resting on Mammon's shoulder as Spanner drove the Audi to the Millefiore's track. Shoichi was driving Fran's Murcielago and being accompanied by Xanxus and Mukuro. The two leaders had also decided that the youngest wouldn't drive their cars to avoid any accidents.

Fran sighed and leaned back in the passenger seat. Spanner shot him a look and Fran nearly cringed.

"Have you been sleeping?" Spanner asked.

"Um…define 'sleeping'," Fran nibbled on his bottom lip nervously.

Spanner sighed heavily, "Don't let Mukuro or Xanxus find out."

"So, who are the others racing today?" Fran asked, changing the subject.

"Vongola members and CEDEF," Spanner answered as he turned into the Millefiore's tracks .

"Oh God…" Fran gasped at the sight of the track.

_Too many curves. Too long. Dammit._ Fran bit his lip as Spanner parked the Audi on the track and got out.

"I wasn't trained for this, Spanner," Fran whispered to his friend as he got out of the car.

"Deal with it, you'll be fine," Bel said as he stretched his muscles outside of the car.

"You're an amazing racer, Fran," Mammon said, "I trust you can go through these curves with minimal trouble."

Fran sighed and swallowed dryly as Mukuro, Xanxus and Shoichi stepped out of his Murcielago.

"You ready, brats?" Xanxus asked as he and Mukuro walked towards where the rest were.

"Yep," Bel said, lacing his fingers behind his head, a small grin on his face.

"You sure look happy," Fran commented. "Do you miss your older brother that badly?"

"Don't be stupid, Frog," Bel sneered, "I'm excited to beat his ass in this race. You better not bring me down, brat."

"Aye-Aye, Captain Douchebag," Fran said, saluting mockingly.

Bel growled and let his arms drop to his side, looking ready to attack. Mammon placed a hand on his shoulder, calming him down a bit.

"They're here," Mammon said, turning Bel to where two cars were speeding down the ramp and onto the track.

The cars stopped on the tracks, the red Corvette ZR1 stopping between Bel and Fran's cars and the purple Mitsubishi Lancer stopping to the right of Fran's car.

The people inside stepped out, a blonde resembling Belphegor but with long, straight, blonde hair stepped out of the Corvette and a black haired male stepping out of the Mitsubishi.

"Usheshe," the blonde giggled at the sight of Belphegor.

Fran cringed he didn't like the sound of that laugh, it didn't sound melodic like Bel's 'Ushishi', this one sounded gross and Fran wanted to cover his ears to protect himself from it.

"Rasiel," Belphegor said, his voice hard and cold.

"Belphegor, dear brother, such a pleasure to see you again," Rasiel said, a wide grin on his face.

Fran cringed again. If he thought his laugh was bad then his voice was much worse. It didn't give the same pleasant tingle Bel's did. Instead, it made the teen want to hide wherever he possibly could. He moved closer to Bel instinctively, ignoring the strange look he received from Shoichi and Spanner.

"I could have gone a few more decades without seeing you," Bel said, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Usheshe, but I missed you so dearly, that's why I asked Byakuran if he could organize this race for me," Rasiel said.

"Then what about him?" Bel asked, gesturing to Fran who was suddenly very close to him.

"Him, he's just an extra," Rasiel said, licking his lip.

Fran gagged lowly and felt Bel push him towards Spanner who wrapped his arms around his small figure.

"That boy is mine to race," Genkishi said, "I have heard many good things about the child and wish to prove that he is nothing special."

"He's good," Bel said, narrowing his eyes.

"But he will never be great," Genkishi said as he got a dreamy look in his eyes, "like Byakuran-sama."

"Are we just going to talk or can we race already?" Fran sighed and pulled away from Spanner. "I have homework to do, y'know."

"Let us race then," Genkishi said, turning around and heading towards his car. Rasiel followed after giving his brother and Fran a smirk, leaving the two other racers to be given directions by their respective leaders.

"Listen, all you gotta do is win," Xanxus said.

"Don't be afraid of the curves, they aren't as bad as you think they are," Mukuro said, ruffling Bel and Fran's hair.

"Be safe," Spanner said, pulling Fran into a hug and kissing the corner of his mouth. Fran simply nodded before hugging Shoichi and turning to where Bel was trying to suck Mammon's face off.

"Hey, you can do that after we win," Fran said, pushing at Bel's side to get the blonde to stop.

Bel glared and gave Mammon one last peck before Mammon gave both Bel and Fran a tight a hug and going over to the seats.

"Let's go," Bel said, wrapping his hand around Fran's wrist and pulling him towards their cars.

A few feet away from where there cars were, Bel stopped Fran and using the hand that was wrapped around the younger's wrist, spun him around to face him.

"Listen, brat, don't mess up," Bel said firmly. "Remember that you're on the line. If we lose, then you're lost. I may not like you but you're important to the team and important to Mammon, so be careful, alright?"

Fran nodded and using his other hand pushed Bel's hand off of his wrist and walked to his Murcielago before getting in. Bel sighed and got into his own car.

Four engines went on at the same time and the cars connected with each other. Fran saw four dots on his screen, one for each person on the track.

"You guys ready?" Spanner asked through the communicator.

"Define 'ready'," Fran said, leaning back in his seat.

He heard a huff and a chuckle that came from Rasiel.

"I'll just assume that you're ready then, anything goes" Spanner said and Fran spotted blinking on his screen which meant that the countdown was beginning.

"Ready…" Shoichi said.

"Set…" Fran suddenly remembered Uni's words and the look in her eyes.

"Go!" Fran sped off while the feeling in his stomach grew stronger and stronger.

_It's just five laps_, Fran thought to himself, _just five laps, and whoever crosses first wins_.

_Anything goes_, Spanner's words flashed through Fran's mind, causing Fran to gulp.

Fran took a deep breath as he went around the first curve. It was a bit tricky but he made it and took a quick look at his rearview mirror. Bel and Genkishi were close behind him while Rasiel was right beside him, making Fran feel a tad uneasy.

The first two laps were completed with ease and Fran almost felt like he could relax. He would relax if Genkishi wasn't constantly trying to push Bel off the tracks and if Rasiel wasn't creeping closer and closer to him.

As Fran began to turn the next curve, he saw Rasiel move far away from him and panic began to rise in him. _He's going to do something._

Fran had no time to move out of the way when Rasiel came crashing into him.

~0~0~0~0~

Spanner watched in horror as Fran's car went spinning out of control before it hit the guard rail, the passenger side being smashed in and stopping just before it reached the drivers side. He barely noticed Rasiel and Genkishi leaving the tracks or Bel getting out of his car and rushing towards the Murcielago.

"Sho-Shoichi…am…am..ambu…ambulance."

~0~0~0~0~

Bel was trembling. Every single part of him was shaking.

_Please be okay. Please._

He tugged the door to drivers side open, catching Fran's limp, unconscious body as it slipped out of the car. Bel pulled the boy out of the car and kneeled down on the floor, Fran on his lap.

_So much…too much…be okay…_

Blood was oozing out from a gash on the teen's head, turning his green hair a shade of dark red. Bruises and cuts were all over his arms and face and Bel saw that the boy's nose had a minor injury. But that didn't matter.

What did matter was that blood was practically pouring all over and the ambulance wasn't coming.

Bel pulled his sweater off and pressed it to the gash on Fran's head before holding the boys head close to the chest and whimpering.

"You'll be okay."


	26. Chapter 26

"Hey, Bel. Belphegor. Kid, snap out of it!"

Bel looked up from the white floors to see Spanner standing in front of him, a hard look on his face.

"You need clean yourself up, you're getting weird looks," Spanner said as he sat down beside Bel.

Bel's current appearance was certainly a scary one. His hands were covered in blood along with spots on his shirt, jeans and face. Some of it was even in his hair.

"Not yet. I can't leave yet," Bel said lowly, gripping his jeans.

"Bel, the doctor won't be out for awhile, just go clean up real quick and I'll go get you a change of clothes," Spanner said, putting a hand on Bel's shoulder.

Bel shook his head and lowered his head to the floor once more.

He felt sick. The smell of the hospital made him think of death. The fact that the boy he had felt no genuine care for a few hours earlier was here made him feel worse. Now he cared. Now that the boy's blood was on his hand he felt care for him. Not because he was Mammon's family but because he was a person that had wormed his way into Bel's life. He had become a part of Bel's life.

"Mr. Ayres?" a voice suddenly spoke, snapping Bel out of his thoughts.

"Yes?" Spanner asked, standing up when the doctor got closer.

"I'm Dr. Stein," the man said and Bel looked up to see him.

Bel was a bit freaked out that Dr. Stein had stitches nearly all over. From his coat to his shoes, pants, shirt and even a longish one on his face.

"How's Fran?" Spanner asked, reaching over and placing a hand on Bel's shoulder.

Dr. Stein took a deep breath and pulled out his clip board, "He had a horrible gash on the side of his face, we've stitched that up for him, several bruises, and cutS that have also been taken care of, his nose had a small crack in it and he had a few broken ribs, we've fixed that as well, and he's also suffered a concussion. I believe that's all."

Spanner's eyes were wide by the time the Doctor had finished. All of that had happened to his little Fran?

Bel's entire being had frozen. The poor boy had suffered through all of that and still lived? He was happy to know that Fran was okay but knowing that all of that had happened made Bel feel sick once again.

"Can we see him?" Spanner asked.

"Yes, but…you might want to clean up a bit, son," Dr. Stein said, addressing Bel.

"Thank you, Doctor," Spanner said before pulling Bel up and pulling him down the hallways and into a bathroom.

"Stay here and clean that off, I'll be back with some clothes," Spanner said before shutting the door and leaving Bel inside.

Bel sighed and turned the water on. He stuck his hands under the warm water and watched as the dried blood began to turn the water red . He finished with his hands and then went to his face and hair, all while watching the red water go down the drain.

A few minutes later there was a knock at the door and Spanner walked in with a change of clothes for Bel. The elder blonde handed Bel a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt which Bel quickly pulled on, suddenly feeling sick with Fran's blood all over his clothes.

"Those are Shoichi's so make sure to return them when you've washed them," Spanner said as he leaned on the wall.

Bel nodded before something sparked in his head, "Where is everyone?"

"Shoichi, Xanxus and Mukuro are down at the cafeteria and…Mammon…he…he just left before the ambulance even came," Spanner said, wringing his hands together.

Bel nodded, not caring about Mammon's whereabouts at the moment. "Can we go see him now?"

Spanner's heart clenched. Bel sounded so innocent. So childlike. He sounded like a small, sad child. So Spanner gave him a comforting smile and nodded. He took Bel's hand and pulled him out of the bathroom and into the hallways. The two walked for a bit before they reached room 426 and Spanner opened the door.

Bel gasped lowly when his heart suddenly came to a stop. Just before him was Fran. Fran who was normally being a snarky little brat and playing around with Ken and Chikusa was now lying quietly in bed, looking lifeless. His skin was so pale that Bel felt fear spike through him. If it weren't for the monitor beeping beside the bed Bel would have thought the boy's heart wasn't beating.

"Man...mom is gonna freak when I tell her about this," Spanner said as he moved towards Fran. He reached a hand out and brushed the boy's bangs out of his face.

Bel winced when he saw the stitches that the bangs had been hiding. He felt the sick feeling come back to him once again.

"Haru and Takashi are gonna flip too," Spanner said, continuing to talk to himself. "I feel like flipping out just knowing that I allowed this to happen." Spanner plopped down onto his knees next to the bed, holding Fran's hand tightly in his own.

Bel closed his eyes and bit his lip when a choked sob floated into his ears.


	27. Chapter 27

_Dark._

Blink.

_Still dark._

Blink. Blink.

_Blurry._

Blink.

_Blu-Oh, it's Spanner._

"You're up," the blonde said softly, a relieved smile on his face.

Fran nodded, finding that his throat was too dry to speak.

Spanner sighed and grabbed the glass of water next to the table. He held it up to the boy's mouth and tilted it back when Fran opened his mouth. When the glass had been drained, Spanner put it back on the table and stared at his charge.

Fran's hazy, green eyes looked around the room. He took in the white walls, the night sky that could be seen through the large window to his right. He looked down to his side to see what was making his bed unbalanced and saw a messy, blonde head.

"…Why?" Fran croaked out, a hand reaching out to touch the blonde head and stopping when he noticed the IV.

Spanner winced when Fran looked up at him with panicked, green eyes. He stepped forward and placed a hand on the boy's shoulder.

"You're in the hospital," Spanner began, "you had an accident on the tracks and you were seriously injured. Bel hasn't left your side since he pulled you out of your car and the others aren't here 'cause visiting hours are over."

Fran bit his lips as he took all this in. He had been in an accident. What happened? Bel hadn't left his side. Why?

"He was worried about you this time," Spanner said, a smile on his face.

Fran blinked, not able to comprehend just what Spanner was trying to say. The blonde's eyes looked to the bag that was slowly emptying itself into Fran and sighed.

"You're probably sleepy, huh?" Spanner said as he lightly pushed Fran back to lie down. "We'll talk when you're not completely drugged."

Fran didn't say anything. He simply gave into his heavy eyes and let them fall.

~0~0~0~0~

"He woke up while you were asleep," was the first thing Bel heard as he rubbed sleep out of his eyes.

"He…woke up?" Bel said slowly, looking up at Spanner.

The elder blonde nodded as he looked down at Fran with affectionate eyes. Bel felt a bit uncomfortable with the look Spanner was giving Fran but ignored it as he stood to stretch his muscles. His back felt sore from spending three nights sleeping on a chair.

"Do you think he'll be up later on?" Bel asked, his eyes trained on the pale boy on the bed.

"Most likely, the doctor said he'd start waking up some time today," Spanner said as he moved towards the door, "I'm going to the cafeteria, you want anything?"

"Anything," Bel replied distractedly.

Spanner nodded and left the room.

Bel nibbled on his bottom lip as he stared at the boy on the bed.

_He woke up._

The blonde slowly reached out and took the green haired teen's hand in his. He rubbed the back of the bandaged hand with his thumb as he continued to process the fact that Fran had woken up.

"Should I let you know that I've woken up? You seem deep in thought."

Bel's eyes snapped up to see Fran rubbing sleep out of his eyes, an uncomfortable look on his face as the bandages rubbed against his skin. Bel moved Fran's hand out of the way and swiped his thumb over the green haired teen's eyes before sitting back in his chair.

"Spanner told me you've been with me since I got here," Fran said, his voice groggy.

Bel nodded. He felt like he couldn't form any words. So many thoughts were going through him at too fast a pace. It was making him dizzy.

"Say something…" Fran almost sounded like he was pleading.

The teen was surprised when he suddenly felt Bel's head buried in his lap, arms wrapped around his waist.

"I'm sorry. I'm really, so, so sorry."

Well, Fran didn't expect that. He lifted his hand and placed it on Bel's blonde head.

"I should have known Siel would do something. I should have watched out for you, I should have-"

"You didn't do anything wrong," Fran said gently, his bandaged fingers running through the blonde hair. "You pulled me out of the car and stayed with me, right? That's more than enough. I'm thankful."

"There was so much blood," Bel muttered, "I had to stop it. I was terrified, Fran."

There was a pause and Fran felt something flip in his stomach at the silence.

"I was worried about you."

Fran suddenly understood the meaning of those words.

"You were worried about me?" Fran questioned his fingers lacing with the blonde strands.

"I was worried about you, yes," Bel grumbled, burying his face further into Fran's thigh.

"You were worried about me and not about Mammon being worried about me?" Fran pressed further as he bit back a smile.

"Yes, you brat, I was worried about _you_," Bel growled half-heartedly.

Fran leaned down so that his torso was covering Bel's head, his arms wrapping around the blonde head on his thigh, "Thank you."

"I'll take better care of you from now on," Bel said as he moved so his head was pressed into Fran's stomach, making it more comfortable for the two of them.

"So we're friends now, huh?" Fran allowed a smile to slip on his face seeing as how Bel probably couldn't see it anyway.

"Yeah, whatever you want to call this fucked up relationship," Bel said, tightening his arms around Fran's waist.

Fran's smile grew and he fought back a grin as his stomach began to flip and he pressed his face in to Bel's hair.

~0~0~0~0~

Spanner stood outside the door to Fran's room, his green eyes looking through the slim window on the door. He saw the two younger people and their position and decided that it was best not to interfere.

He backed up until he was pressed up against a wall, his head tilted upwards to look at the ceiling.

Spanner raised an arm and covered his eyes as tears began to slip down his cheeks and a bitter smile slid onto his face.

"A miracle, huh?"


	28. Chapter 28

The next few days after Fran woke up; his room was bustling with activity.

Haru and Takeshi visited everyday to bring their friends his notes and homework and just to talk with Fran about anything. Kyoko and Kirino visited whenever they could. Fran was more than content to hold little Kirino despite the fact that he was still recovering. Mammon visited every once in a while just to see how his nephew was doing and had shot down Bel's question of 'where did you go after the accident?' Verde visited on several occasions but only to check on his nephew since he had work to do at the station. The rest of the Varia-Kokuyo members stopped by a lot to see Fran and give him gifts that ranged from yogurt to video games. Aria, Uni and Gamma visited everyday as well to bring the teen something that wasn't hospital food. Uni always had a sad look in her eyes when she visited and would curl up to Fran on his bed. And, finally, according to Spanner, Luche was on her way from Italy.

Bel and Spanner were the only ones who stayed all day with the injured teen. Bel more than Spanner since Spanner occasionally went home to sleep while Bel spent all his nights at the hospital beside Fran.

Currently, only Fran and Bel were in the former's room. Everyone who had visited that day had gone home since visiting hours were over and Spanner had gone home to pick up some clothes for Bel, Fran and himself.

"So, any idea when Luche is gonna get here?" Bel asked as he fiddled with his thumbs.

"She left Italy this morning so she should be here soon," Fran said with a shrug, his own thumbs pressing on the buttons of the game system in his hands.

Bel sighed and leaned back on the bed, head resting on Fran's shoulder as he watched the video game screen carefully. A few seconds later, the blonde's phone vibrated and he pulled out. Seeing that he had a text message, he scrolled to it and clicked on the message.

**From: Mammon**

**Are you busy?**

Bel's eyes drifted from the message to the green haired teen whose eyes were trained on the game screen. He nibbled on his lip and replied to the message.

**To: Mammon**

**Just a bit, why?**

Bel shoved his phone back into his pocket and continued to watch Fran play. A minute later his phone vibrated again and Bel checked his message.

**From: Mammon**

**I haven't seen you in a while. I was wondering if you wanted to hang out.**

Bel bit his lip as he read the message over. He looked over to where Fran and then back to his phone.

"Go."

Bel looked over to Fran.

"Just go," Fran said, "I don't really need you here. So go."

Bel felt conflicted. He knew Fran was still in pain from the accident and that he would fall asleep in a bit since he was still on the IV. What if he needed help going somewhere or getting something? Bel shook his head and began to type out a reply to Mammon when Fran took his phone with a soft wince.

"You are not blowing off my uncle to watch over me," Fran said sternly, as if it were an order, "you've been in this hospital as long as I have and I'm dying to get out of here. But I can't, so you have to go out for me. Bring me back some ice cream, okay?"

Bel sighed and got out of the bed, taking his phone back he confirmed a date with Mammon and gave the boy in the bed a strict look even though he couldn't see it.

"If anything happens…if you need anything, call me," Bel said and left after receiving a nod.

Bel groaned and ran a hand through his hair as he got on the elevator. He pressed the button to go down and the doors closed. When they opened once more, a woman with green hair greeted him. He stepped out of the elevator and stared at the woman.

"You look familiar," Bel said, a frown on his face as he thought about who this woman could be.

The woman gave a warm smile, "My name is Luche. Perhaps you know my daughter and granddaughter?"

"Oh! Fran is waiting for you," Bel said, relieved that someone was here to watch over Fran.

"Ah, you're close to Fran then," Luche said, a soft smile on her lips.

"Uh…I guess you could say that," Bel said sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head.

Luche's smile grew wider at this, "Well, I'm glad that you are at least much closer to him than before, Belphegor, right?"

Bel nodded.

"It was nice meeting you, I must go see my little Franny now though," Luche said as she stuck her hand out for Bel to shake.

"Nice to meet you too," Bel said, shaking Luche's hand and stepping out of the woman's way so she could get into the elevator.

As Bel walked out of the hospital, he made a note to ask Fran just what he told Luche about him.

~0~0~0~0~

Fran didn't get his ice cream until the day after Bel and Mammon's date.

Bel had simply blushed and covered his face when Spanner had asked him why he had not come back that night. Fran didn't feel like eating his ice cream after that.

Luche became one of the people who spent the majority of their time at the hospital. She went home after visiting hours but was back five minutes before visiting hours reopened. She somehow convinced the nurses to let her through whenever she wanted though.

After 2 weeks at the hospital, Fran became very fussy. He grumbled about wanting to come home and kicked at his sheets in a frustrated manner. He whined and whimpered at not being able to leave the hospital and some points he looked ready to cry.

"How are you feeling today, Fran?" Dr. Stein asked, clipboard in hand as he looked over Fran's injuries.

"I wanna go home," Fran whined, a pout on his face.

Dr. Stein sighed as he put his clipboard down and continued to check over Fran, "Well, your injuries are healing nicely. You're not having trouble breathing and your head looks okay. I don't see any harm in you going home."

Spanner and Bel could only laugh as Dr. Stein was pulled into a tight hug by an overjoyed Fran


	29. Chapter 29

"Calm down, kiddo," Spanner chuckled as he helped Fran pull his shirt own, the green haired boy too excited to do it properly.

"I can't wait to get out of here, " Fran muttered quickly as he pulled his socks on, bandaged hands fumbling with the socks a bit before he was able to put them on properly. "It's horrible. The food is gross, it stinks, the nurses are all bitter and buff, and Stein is a bit creepy."

"Stein makes me think of Verde for some odd reason," Spanner said thoughtfully as he tapped his lips.

"You think so too, huh?" Fran huffed in amusement as he put his sneakers on.

"You shouldn't be leaning over so much," Spanner said softly, as he pushed Fran back in a straight position, "your ribs are still healing."

Fran frowned a bit, "They don't hurt though."

"That's 'cause you're still on pain meds," Spanner sighed as he tied the boys sneakers.

"Gah, how long do I have to take those for?" Fran whined.

"'Till the bottle's gone, two every day," Spanner said, reciting Dr. Stein's words.

Fran sighed and stood from the bed. Taking Spanner's hand, he pulled his guardian to the lobby where Bel was signing Fran out.

"Ready to go?" Bel asked, smiling at the eagerness that shone through the normally dull eyes.

Fran nodded and took Bel's hand with the hand that wasn't holding Spanner's and pulled the two of them out of the hospital and to the parking lot. Spanner took the lead from there and led them to the Accord. He opened the passenger side and helped Fran in before getting the door for Bel and finally getting to the car himself and driving out of the parking lot.

It was silent in the car as Spanner drove through the dark streets, lights flashing in the car as the drove on the highway.

Spanner finally broke the silence.

"I'm over you, just thought I'd let you know that."

Fran threw his head back into the seat and covered his face with his long sleeves.

"Fran?" Spanner looked over to teen quickly and grinned.

The teen's shoulders were shaking up and down and Bel almost thought he was crying but then, he spoke.

"It took me going through an accident for you to get over me?" Fran asked, a hint of mirth in his voice.

Bel blinked. Fran had been laughing. Fran had laughed. He suddenly felt like the world should be spinning out of control.

"Hey, a lot happened because of this accident," Spanner said, his eyes flicking to the rear view mirror to look at Bel who sunk in his seat.

"I'm happy for you, now go show Hayato how good it feels to have you all to himself," Fran said.

"I'll take care of him tonight," Bel said, a smile on his face as he reached around the seat to wrap his arms around Fran.

"What am I, five?" Fran shook his head. "I don't need a baby sitter."

"But you do need someone to watch over you since you just got out of the hospital," Spanner said as he took a left off of the highway.

"You both suck," Fran grumbled as he leaned further into his seat, making it easier for Bel to wrap his arms around his shoulders.

~0~0~0~0~

Fran held onto Bel's sleeve as the two of them walked into the apartment building. The teen tugged at Bel's sleeve to get his attention and looked up to Bel's blonde hair covered face when he got it.

"Verde lives here; can I go see him real quick?" Fran asked.

Bel sighed and nodded, "My room is 226, just knock and don't take long, okay?"

Fran nodded and released Bel's sleeve before running to the elevators and pressing the '7' button. He whistled along to the song playing in the elevator as it went up. He stepped off when the elevator reached the 7th floor and walked down to room 713.

Fran searched his pockets for his keys, pulling them up when he found them. He opened the door and closed it quietly behind him. He checked the living room first before he heard a noise come from the bedroom. The teen walked down the hall and to the bedroom.

Fran slowly opened the door just incase he shouldn't be disturbing and peeked his head in.

SLAM.

Fran ran as quick as he could to the front door, unlocking it, and slamming it shut as he continued to run. He ran down the hall and to the stairs, running down them all the way to the second floor in record time. He reached door 226 and stopped right before it. Breathlessly, he slumped down on the wall beside it and pulled his knees to his chest, bandaged hands clutching at his aching head.

_No. No. No. Nonononononono. __**NO!**_

Fran let out a quiet whimper as he willed the images of his two uncles in bed together away.

~0~0~0~0~

Bel frowned as he checked the clock on the stove. Fran had already been gone for an hour and hadn't even called to let him know if he was going to be staying Verde for a longer period of time.

The blonde sighed as he closed his text book and grabbed his keys. He opened the door with full intentions of going down to the lobby to harass the sweet girl downstairs to give him Verde's room. Instead the first thing he saw when he opened the door was Fran pressed against the wall beside his apartment.

Bel wrapped a hand around the teen's arm, frowning when he winced, and pulled him up and off of the floor. His frown deepened further when he saw that Fran's eyes were a deeper shade of green and that he looked a bit spaced out, his skin a shade paler. He pulled the teen into his home and tilted the green head upwards so that Fran was looking straight at him and not down.

"What's wrong? Are you in pain?" Bel asked, a worried tone filling his words.

Fran shook his head and placed his hand against the blonde's chest to push himself away from the blonde.

"Can I use your shower?" Fran asked, licking his lips as he looked downwards once more.

"Sure, use the one in my room, it's down the hall, third door to the left," Bel said, grabbing the boys hand before he left. "Do you want dinner?"

Fran shook his head, "I want to sleep."

"Okay," Bel said, releasing Fran and watching as the teen went into the hall.

Bel sighed as he plopped down onto the couch.

"What's wrong, Fran?"

~0~0~0~0~

Fran clenched his teeth tightly as he scrubbed roughly at his skin, turning it red and opening up some of the cuts he had on his arms.

He felt disgusting and he wasn't even the one who was cheating or being cheated on. It was none of his business. But at the same time it was. He had been a witness and felt like scum for not telling Bel.

Fran scrubbed himself harder.

After the steaming water began to grow cold, Fran decided that he should probably get out before he caught a cold. He stepped out of the shower and grabbed the towel that he grabbed from the closet and wrapped it around himself. He pulled his boxers on and walked out of the room.

Fran felt sick when he saw the clothes that Bel had set out for him on the bed. He pulled the sweat pants on anyway, frowning when he saw that they were too loose and pulling the string before tying them. He pulled the t-shirt on next, once again upset that the shirt was too big and that it fell off his shoulder on one side and went down to above his knees. Fran pulled his own socks on before crawling under the covers and covering his head, preparing himself for another sleepless night.

Sleepless and yet still filled with nightmares.


	30. Chapter 30

Fran groaned into Bel's pillow as the sun began to burst through the window. He had spent the entire night tossing and turning along with attempting to get the images from last night out of his head.

Fran sighed and pulled the pillow in his arms closer to his chest. He took a deep breath; taking in the scent of what he could only guess belonged to Bel. The scent wasn't unpleasant like he thought it would be. Instead, it made his nose tingle pleasantly and it made him feel warm.

Checking the alarm clock on the bedside table, Fran saw that it was 6:30 am and decided to get up. Putting the pillow down, Fran got out of bed and stretched his muscles. He fixed the bed and went to the bathroom to wash his face and clean his mouth. Once he was done, Fran stepped out of the room and into the living room. He saw Bel sleeping on the couch, one leg on the arm rest and the other hanging off the edge of the leather couch. The blonde's laptop was open on the coffee table, a college website on the screen that showed his assignments. Papers were spread all over the table along with a glass of orange juice.

Fran bit his lip and began to tip toe his way to the kitchen, hoping that he could be quiet enough so as to not wake up Bel. He only made it halfway to the kitchen when the blonde on the couch began to stir sit up. Fran tried his very best to not laugh at the serious bed hair Bel had at the moment.

"You're up," Bel croaked, looking over at his laptop before turning back to Fran with a frown, "at 6 in the morning. Did you sleep?"

Fran prepared himself to lie but knew that the bags under his eyes would give it away. So he shook his head.

Bel sighed and using his finger, beckoned the younger male to come closer. Fran walked towards him obediently, raising an eyebrow when Bel adjusted himself so he was sitting on the couch with his legs tucked under his body.

"Why didn't you sleep?" Bel asked, looking up at him, arms resting on the back of the couch.

Fran sighed and sat down on the floor, his back against the back of the couch, "I don't know. I normally have trouble sleeping but…I do eventually fall asleep. I couldn't sleep at all last night though."

"Were you uncomfortable with something?" Bel asked, a frown popping onto his face.

"Everything was fine…I think it has something to do with the accident," Fran said, not entirely lying. He felt bad for lying to Bel about why he couldn't sleep but the accident did scare him a bit. Not enough to stop him from not getting any sleep though.

Bel's facial expressions suddenly turned into a look of fury. His hands balled up tightly and he lowered his head.

"I'll make them pay….I promise," Bel muttered lowly.

Fran sighed as he stood; placing his hands on Bel's head and fixing the blonde's hair so it looked less messy than it usually did.

"You don't need to promise me anything," Fran said, pulling at the blonde hair to get Bel to look at him, "you only need to give me breakfast."

Bel's look of fury quickly turned into a grin as he jumped over the back of the couch and headed towards the bathroom to get ready.

~0~0~0~0~

"How was your night?" Fran asked as he walked into the garage at the tracks.

"It was good, Hayato enjoyed a healthy dose of Spanner lovin' and we ate ice cream, how was yours?" Spanner asked.

"Um…sleepless, like it usually is," Fran sighed and leaned against Spanner.

"I fixed Murci," Spanner said, changing the subject. "It was a bit of a bitch fixing the cave-in on the passenger side but Shoichi and I fixed it and Giannini helped out too."

"Can I see?" Fran asked, looking up at Spanner.

The blonde nodded and pulled Fran over to where Murci was covered by a sheet. Spanner pulled the sheet off, revealing the Murcielago.

"It looks brand new," Fran said as he inspected the car.

"Yep, Shoichi, Giannini and I made sure not a scratch was left on this precious piece of sports car," Spanner said proudly.

Fran made an amused noise as he continued to look over the car.

"Here," Spanner said, slipping the keys into Fran's hand.

And Fran began to shake. His eyes went wide as his whole body began to tremble uncontrollably. The keys in his hands rattled as he shook and Fran closed his eyes, fast moving images passed through his mind. Spinning, crashing, and then, nothing.

Fran felt himself being pulled into Spanner's arms, the blonde removing the keys from his hands. This greatly calmed the teen as he continued to shake. He buried his face in the elder's chest as he took deep breaths. Fran whimpered as he continued to tremble.

"Spanner, what do I do?"

~0~0~0~0~

"Why are you here all by yourself?" Bel asked as he sat down beside the teen on the grass.

"It's my thinking spot. For me to think by myself, not with others," came a grumbled reply from Fran whose face was buried in between his knees.

"What's wrong?" Bel asked, his eyes trained on the teen beside him.

"I'm…I…I panicked when Spanner gave me the keys to Murci…" Fran muttered, his voice sounding a bit choked.

Bel sighed as he wrapped an arm around the teen's shoulder. His fingers player with the ends of the green hair as he thought about what to say.

"I feel horrible," Fran croaked, raising his head to look up at Bel.

"You'll be alright," Bel said, a smile on his face.

Suddenly, Fran felt his still healing nose being pinched, his eyes shut tightly at the pain. Then, there were a pair of lips on his. It was only a quick peck, something that was over in 2 seconds but it made Fran feel as if every single part of him was on fire.

"I'll see you around, Froggy," Bel said as he walked out of the park and into his car, driving away as Fran stared.

Fran sighed as he wrapped an arm around his knees and the other hand rubbed his nose.

"Ow…"


	31. Chapter 31

A knock at the door pulled Fran from his thoughts. He stood from the couch and walked over to the door, pulling it open and slamming it closed as soon as he saw who it was.

Unfortunately, Verde was faster and managed to stick his foot in the house.

"I don't want to talk to you," Fran growled as he continued to push at the door. "I'm not ready yet."

"And when will you be ready, Fran?" Verde questioned as he pushed the door open, catching his nephew as he stumbled.

"Never," Fran deadpanned, looking up at his uncle.

"Fran, please," Mammon pleaded. "Just let us explain."

"You can't talk to me about this," Fran said, shaking his head. "If anything you should be talking to Bel about what you two have been doing behind his back. I don't want to hear it."

"Are you sure?" Verde asked, placing a hand on Fran's shoulder.

"It's none of my business…" Fran muttered, shrugging Verde's hand off.

Mammon sighed and lowered his head, "Fine, I…we'll talk to Bel. I'm really sorry, Fran."

"I trusted you…the two of you," Fran mumbled, his head down, "you two are my family, the only blood relatives I have. I trusted you."

"Fran…" Verde and Mammon began simultaneously before getting off.

"Out. _**Get out**__._"

The two silently nodded before leaving, giving their nephew one last apologetic look before closing the door.

Fran sighed and grabbed his head tightly_. I don't need this, there's already enough wrong with me. I don't need this._

A few minutes after Mammon and Verde had left, Spanner walked in, an upset look on his face as he walked passed the living room and into the kitchen.

Fran followed after him, curious about the look his friend had on his face.

"What's up?" Fran asked as he took a seta at the island where Spanner had set the back of groceries he had brought in with him.

"Dad called."

"Yeah?"

"He wants you to go to Italy."

* * *

><p><strong>(AN) Well, this is the end of part 2 ^^! The 3rd part, titled _One Better Day_, will be up as soon as finish writing it. I hope you all enjoyed this and I can't wait to see you all on part 3 =).**

**Thank you!**


End file.
